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THE BRITISH TRADITIONAL 
BALLAD IN NORTH AMERICA 



THE BRITISH TRADITIONAL 
BALLAD IN NORTH AMERICA 



TRISTRAM P. COFFIN 



PHILADELPHIA 

THE AMERICAN FOLKLORE SOCIETY 

1950 



ALL RIGHTS RESERVED BY 
AMERICAXFOLKLORE SOCIETY INC. 



PRINTED IN GERMANY 
BY J.J.AUGUSTIN, GLttCKSTADT 



CONTENTS 



INTRODUCTION xi 



XVI 



A DESCRIPTION OF VARIATION IN THE 

TRADITIONAL BALLAD OF AMERICA i zr 

FOOTNOTES 2125 

A CRITICAL, BIBLIOGRAPHICAL STUDY OF THE 

TRADITIONAL BALLAD OF AMERICA 27162 

AN INDEX TO BORROWING IN THE TRADITIONAL 

BALLADS OF AMERICA 163169 

GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY 171181 

INDEX TO BALLADS DISCUSSED 183188 



TO THE MEMORY 
OF MY FATHER: 

TRISTRAM ROBERTS COFFIN 



INTRODUCTION 



INTRODUCTION 

The purpose of this book, as it covers the field to 3 
ballad scholar, and particularly the student of ballac 
published material on the Child ballad 1 in America, 
proached with the study of change and developmen 
actual presentation is one of bibliography, reference 

Variation is one of the most rewarding and impo 
American folk song scholar can investigate. In the al 
tions that are to be found in the New World version 
tional British ballad texts are probably hidden the a 
lore's seemingly insolvable questions: how did folk 
are the methods by which successions of ignorant an 
produce art, and what is the history of the arrival ar 
British songs in America ? That the answers to thest 
conclusively learned is doubtful. That they nevei 
learned from the studies so far completed is certainJ 

Two major steps are to be taken in assembling tl 
eventually bring us closer to the solution of these p 
of texts, and the detailed study and correlation of 
The first step is nearly completed in this country. Und 
by the great students of the last two generations, Cl 
Barry, John Lomax, Hudson, Belden, and their fello 
of American and Anglo-American balladry are nearly 
or in the various archives in a large variety of fo 
collection will and should continue, its hey-day is 
Tennessee informant, 

We don't sing: many of the old songs now. Radio has c 
up with Flat Foot Floogie* . * 

Of necessity, folk students of this and the next gene] 
complete the second step. Pioneer work in the field 
study and correlation has been going on for some tim 
the material by men such as Barry, Bayard, Parker * 
their fellows like Jansen and Zielonko, is in truth sm 
concentrated on the field, although in it there is worl 
Perhaps, the reason for such sporadic interest lies in 
wasted in locating texts and tunes* American folk sonj 
a thousand books and libraries. 

xiii 



xiv British Traditional Ballad in North America 

It is hoped that the work that follows will greatly simplify the task of the 
textual scholar. Thus, the introductory description of variation, and the 
subsequent bibliographies, studies, charts and reports are not designed to 
reveal a thesis, but rather to present factually the material of and the com- 
pleted scholarship on the Child ballad in America. My hope is that, once the 
way is opened, others may find it easier to produce the many detailed textual 
studies and analyses of small areas that will eventually lead to more objec- 
tive remarks concerning the major problems of ballad origin, art, and history 
than it is now and has been possible to make. 

To claim my work is complete would be foolhardy, although completeness 
has been my aim. Obscure newspaper columns, privately printed material, 
and other such publications are bound to include material on the American 
Child ballad that I have missed. 5 Nevertheless, I am confident that I have 
covered the field in a fashion that is close enough to completeness to serve 
the same end. 

In the preparation of a compilation of this scope, I have found it expedient 
to draw certain arbitrary boundaries. Thus, I have confined myself, with a 
very few important exceptions, to material published from oral tradition, 
excluding phonograph records, archive collections, anthologies of previously 
printed texts that contain no editorial comment of significance, and collec- 
tions of previously printed songs arranged for singing. The ballads to be found 
in the two former classifications are generally catalogued and indexed by the 
specific institutions through which they can be obtained, and works of the 
latter sort offer nothing not included by my prescribed limits. It migjit be 
noted at this point, however, that I have included as a service some references 
to broadside and songbook texts in my individual bibliographies, although 
no effort has been made to make a complete list of references of this sort. 

This work is composed of four major parts. Three of these, the descriptive 
essay on ballad variation, the chart of inter-ballad corruption, and the 
general bibliography are self-explanatory, but the main body of the disserta- 
tion needs some clarification. In this section, the ballads are listed consecu- 
tively under their Child numbers, with an individual bibliography, the local 
American titles, and the American story types following. 

In using the bibliographies, five points should be kept in mind. I.) The 
titles of the books are abbreviated in such a way that their identification in 
the General Bibliography at the end, where dates of edition and places of 
publication are given, is easily made. 2.) As a series of versions or variants of 
a ballad is often published in a periodical and later only one or two texts 
from such a series is reprinted in a book or different magazine, I have found 
it very misleading to indicate the separate bibliographical references that 



Introduction xv 

cite identical texts. Consequently, I have avoided making such indications. 
Nevertheless, even though most editors indicate when and where their texts 
have previously appeared, the student working with the individual biblio- 
graphies should keep overlapping in mind, particularly with reference to 
material collected by Barry, Belden, Brewster, Cox, Eddy, Henry, Mac- 
Kenzie, Tolman, and the other consistent workers, some of whom have 
printed texts two or three times over. Likewise, it should be remembered that 
the Child ballads in early books by a certain scholar often are reprinted in 
later works by the same man or in later, larger editions of the same book. 
3.) References to obscure newspapers and privately printed works are not 
given when the songs included in them have been reprinted in easily obtain- 
able sources. 4.) No references are given to British or European versions of 
the songs, unless such references are pertinent to the American tradition. 
However, Phillips Barry, H. M. Belden, Paul Brewster, J. Harrington Cox, 
and Cecil Sharp have placed such lists in their collections and, between them, 
include Old World bibliographies to most of the Child ballads that appear in 
this country. 5.) It may be noted by a reader that certain references included 
in previously published bibliographies of individual ballads have been 
omitted from my lists. These references will prove to be to ballad titles and 
not to texts. My bibliographies confine themselves to texts, with a few 
obvious and notable exceptions such as the Michigan list of Bertrand Jones, 
the Shearin & Combs Kentucky Syllabus, and the Louise Pound Nebraska 
Syllabus. 

In connection with the local titles under which the various ballads appear, 
I have had to trust the various editors in my attempts to distinguish labels 
from actual names. 

The "story types" into which I have divided the American versions and 
variants are arbitrary classes based on differences in plot and mood. Story 
variation, as opposed to variation of the actual texts, or textual variation, 
is a vital and generally neglected part of ballad study. The story of a folk 
song only exists at the length and with the dramatic mood at which that 
song is remembered. What it was, and even what it will be, are unimportant 
while it is being passed along. Thus, new ballads grow from the old, and the 
ways of folk art reveal themselves with respect to plot and mood, just as they 
do with respect to text. 

Within my story classifications, no attempt has been made to distinguish 
specific textual variation. Such a task is too particular for a work of this sort. 
In many cases, the information can be had by consulting the individual 
collections. 6 The representative examples of the story types have been cited 
from the most easily obtainable and extensive works, wherever possible, in 



XVI British Traditional Ballad in North America 

order to facilitate the task of the reader who wishes to refer to an actual text. 
And versions that borrow material from other songs have been considered to 
create new story types only where I feel that the borrowing has affected the 
mood or plot of the original song. 

Finally, I should like to express my appreciation of the assistance and 
cooperation extended me by the various libraries which I worked in, corre- 
sponded with, or had access to through the inter-library loan service, and, in 
particular, to thank the staffs of the Bryn Mawr College Library, the Brown 
University Library, the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Harvard Uni- 
versity Library, and the University of Pennsylvania Library. I am indebted 
to Dr. H. M. Belden, who wrote me willingly in connection with the F. C. 
Brown Collection; to Dr. W. Edson Richmond, whose project some of my 
work has overlapped; to Mr. Horace P. Beck, for bringing to my attention 
two interesting variants ; and to Dr. E. Sculley Bradley, Dr. Joseph Carriere, 
Dr. Malcolm Laws, Mr. Lynn Hummel, Dr. Samuel P. Bayard, Mrs. Tristram 
R. Coffin, Miss Ruth Robinson, Mr. Thomas P. Crolius, Mrs. James A. 
Schnaars, and Mr. William L. Hedges for their various services and courtesies. 
Most of all, however, I wish to state my gratitude to Dr. MacEdward Leach, 
who conceived and directed my thesis, and to my wife, who did some labo- 
rious work throughout its preparation. 

FOOTNOTES 

1 The "traditional" or "Child" ballads are those songs that are included in Francis J. Child's 
The English and Scottish Popular Ballads. His system of numbering has been observed. 

2 It seems to me here that Gummere, Kittredge, and the rest of the ''communal school" 
went astray, for they attempted to come to definite conclusions that they could not have 
believed had they waited for all the evidence to be in. 

3 Robert Mason, Folk Songs and Folk Tales of Cannon County, p. 14. 

4 See Phillips Barryj British Ballads from Maine; the discussions of Samuel Bayard and 
Harbison Parker on the Johnny Collins tradition in JAFL, LVIII, 73 ff. and LX, 265 ff. ; 
the unpublished melodic index of Child ballad music in America being prepared by B. H. 
Bronson; William Jansen's discussion of The Wife Wrapped in Wether's Skin in HFLQ 9 IV, 
4^3, p. 41 ff.; Jane Zielonko's Master's Thesis Some American Variants of Child Ballads; 
and other such works. 

5 I have been unable to study two collections of American folk songs : Lucy Cobb, Tra- 
ditional Ballads and Songs of East North Carolina, Doctoral Dissertation, University of 
North Carolina, 1927 and Bess Owens, Some Unpublished Folk Songs of the Cumberland, 
Master's Thesis, George Peabody College, 1930. 

6 A. K. Davis, Traditional Ballads of Virginia; Barry's BESSNE articles and his British 
Battads from Maine; J. H. Cox, Folk Songs of the South; H. M. Belden, Folk Songs of 
Missouri; W. R. MacKenzie, Ballads and Sea Songs from Nova Scotia; A. P. Hudson, Folk 
Songs of Mississippi; P. J. Brewster, Ballads and Songs of Indiana; V. Randolph, Ozark 
Folk Songs; and H. H. Flanders, New Green Mountain Songster are particularly good in 
including such correlation. 



A DESCRIPTION OF VARIATION 
IN THE TRADITIONAL BALLAD OF AMERICA 



A DESCRIPTION OF VARIATION 
IN THE TRADITIONAL BALLAD OF AMERICA 

Any description of ballad variation, and particularly a description con- 
cerning the Child ballad in America 7 , must deal with three interwoven 
forces: personal factors, general trends of folk art, and print. Of the three, 
perhaps the personal factors are the most interesting. Certainly they have 
by far the most widespread influence. Forgetting, contamination of one 
ballad by stanzas from another, use of a cliche to fill in forgotten material, 
desire for more dramatic effects, tendency to rationalize unbelievable situa- 
tions, use of localisms, invention of new story matter, misunderstanding in 
the oral transmission of a phrase, and the adaptation of old words to a 
modified or new tune, are all means by which the individual singer may 
change a ballad. 8 

Whether such changes are ever done consciously is a matter of some dispute. 
A. K. Davis, in the introductory remarks to his Virginia collection 9 , prints 
a statement that many singers do purposefully vary their material. Quoting 
a Miss Flauntleroy, he notes, 

Some ballad singers, probably most ballad singers, . , . would regard the slightest 
deviation in words or tune hardly short a crime, while others, of less exact memories 
or less strict ideals, sometimes sing unimportant words or lines differently, and even 
vary the melodies, which is even more confusing. 

MacKenzie, however, offers a passage in opposition in his Quest of the Ballad. 

I have laid constant stress on my belief that no ballad-singer ever makes a conscious 
or deliberate change in the phraseology of his song and so far, at least, as my own 
experience goes, there is not a shred of evidence against this belief. 10 

That Miss Flauntleroy is almost certainly correct is not of paramount 
importance here. The point is that variation does occur. And, with respect 
to this variation the general nature of folk narrative art is somewhat paradox- 
ical. There are constants, and there are definite trends. The central or 
climactic dramatic situation, the outline of the plot, the stanzas with par- 
ticularly vivid passages, the figures of speech, the imbedded cliche, all tend 
to hold the story and the text firm. While an inclination to move away from 
diffuseness toward concentration upon a single part of a single incident and 
the desire to universalize the material often opposes these factors. 11 Thus, 
where the trends can operate with aid from personal factors, masses of detail, 
archaic phraseology, commonly recurring situations, and the excess material 
sometimes found at the beginning and end of the songs, the constants are 

2* 3 



4. British Traditional Ballad in North America 

frequently overridden. However, it must not be forgotten that such over- 
riding does not invariably, nor even consistently happen. 

The force of print on the ballad is difficult to estimate. 12 In the first place, 
printed broadsides, chapbook texts, songster versions, etc. are no longer 
ballads to be safely studied as a part of folklore. For even if the editor has 
been careful to retain the language and phraseology of a text received by 
him from oral tradition, a fact seldom likely and almost never ascertainable, 
one of the essential ingredients of the ballad has been eliminated when the 
song is circulated on paper. 13 In the second place, the question "Can a ballad 
be reborn from print ?" must be answered. That is, can a song that has gone 
from oral tradition into print return to oral tradition and be considered a 
folk song f There seems no reason that it cannot. Almost all collectors 14 have 
taken this stand. Jn addition, there is ample evidence that a number of folk 
songs have not only been reborn from print, but have had their origin on 
paper. 15 In the third place, although a ballad that enters print were never 
reborn, it may still influence oral versions of the story through any one of 
the personal factors. A singer reading or hearing recited or sung a printed 
version of a text he knows in fragmentary form may "fill" or vary his text 
accordingly. And, in the last place, the poet who adapts a specific popular 
ballad to his sophisticated ends, as did Burns, Hamilton, Scott, Swinburne', 16 
and others, may find his song reentering oral tradition 17 and perhaps in- 
fluencing the original song that has continued on in oral tradition. 

Keeping all these points in mind, then, one can easily see that the press can 
mould the history of traditional texts to a great extent. A song and its story 
may be preserved from the normal forces of folk art for many years before it 
reenters oral tradition. What become unusual events and expressions are 
retained intact, while the new version in turn gives birth to a series of strik- 
ingly similar texts. 18 Editorial modifications, such as sentimentalized endings 
and moralizing, may be inserted and return with the song to the folk. Some- 
times such an interim in print will be the only thing to preserve the song 
from complete extinction. Barbara Allen is not nearly so well known in 
Britain as it is in this country because of its popularity in nineteenth century 
American songbooks. 

Perhaps Phillips Barry's rediscovery 19 of the Child Ad version of Riddles 
Wisely Expounded summarizes the whole subject the most graphically. Here 
a British broadside was freely translated into German by Herder, used by 
Goethe in an opera, 20 re-translated into English, and thence went back into 
oral tradition to be picked up a half-century or more later in Maine. 

Variation itself is not a simple subject, and, especially in America, there 
are a great many types of ballad alteration. It seems best to divide my dis- 



A "Description of Variation 5 

cussion into two parts: textual variation and story change. The former, 
which, shall be taken first, involves those changes that do not affect the 
story, either as to plot or mood, but rather create the minor differences that 
distinguish the variants, and often the versions, of individual ballads. 21 This 
partition of the subject can then be carried further to distinguish verbal 
variations, refrain movement and degeneration, phrase-idea movement, 
stanza changes, in addition to corruption by means of lines, phrases, names, 
cliches, motifs and the like. 

The most obvious sort of ballad change centers about the simple altera- 
tions of words and phrases. Any composition travelling from mouth to 
mouth, from generation to generation, from country to country is bound to 
suffer from a certain amount of verbal corruption and degeneration. This is 
particularly true when the word or phrase is slightly strange or out of the 
ordinary. The church, St. Pancras, in Lord Lovel can be found as St. Pancreas, 
Pancry, Pancridge, Panthry, Pankers, Patrick, Bankers, Peter, Varney, 
Varner, Vernoys, Vincent, Rebecca, Francis, King Patsybells, etc. 22 The 
place to which James Harris asks the carpenter's wife to go in Child 243 
varies from Sweet Willie, sweet tralee, and Tennessee to Italy, the deep blue 
sea, and calvaree. 28 The brown girl becomes the Brown girl, merry green lea 
becomes Merry Green Lea, the "burial in the choir" becomes "burial in 
Ohio", Beelzebub becomes belchy bub, a cuckold becomes a cockle-comber, 
virgins become Virginnins, "so bonny 0" becomes "siboney-o", colleens be- 
come golis, etc., etc. And in one puritanical text of Sir Lionel** Old Bangum 
"swore by blank (sic) he had won the shoes". 

These variations on the word level can be traced to a number of sources 
besides the obvious one of oral degeneration. Rationalization and localiza- 
tion also exercise influence in such situations. The former process, which I 
shall discuss later on the story level, is simply the means of transposing an 
unbelievable, illogical, or outmoded phrase or situation to something more 
plausible. Barry in connection with, the "plant burden" of The Wife Wrapped 
in Wether's Skin 25 points out that the old charm against the devil "juniper, 
gentian and rosemary" has been made "more sensible" so that the names of 
the plants have become the names of persons in American texts: "Jennifer 
June and the rosymaree", 26 "Jinny, come gentle, Rose Marie", "Gentle 
Jinny, fair Rose Marie", etc. 27 

Localization is the process of adapting the vocabulary and material of a 
song to a certain locality. In Earl Beck's lumberjack version of The Farmer's 
Curst Wife** the husband is a woodsman instead of a farmer, while the York- 
shire bite has become a New Hampshire bite in Maine. 29 With respect to this 
characteristic method of varying words and phrases, names of local heroes 



6 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

are frequently inserted into tie stories in the place of men long dead and 
long unknown. Lord Randal becomes Johnnie Randolph in Virginia and 
West Virginia where the illustrious Randolph family lived, 30 and Captain 
Charles Stewart, U.S.N. sets out to capture Andy Barton in a large number 
of northern American texts. 31 Barbara Allen is made a poor blacksmith's 
daughter and her lover the richest man in the world in one New York 
village, 32 while the whole scene of this same ballad shifts to a prairie locale 
in another cowboy version. 33 

The meanings of individual words often suffer in transmission to the 
extent that the result is pure nonsense. It is not unusual to find singers 
standing loyally by such phrases as "he buckled his belt down by his side and 
away they went bluding (bleeding) away", 34 "up spoke a pretty little parrot 
exceeding (sitting) on a willow tree", 35 and cc he mounted a roan (her on), she 
a milk-white steed, whilst himself upon a dapple gray". 36 However, some of 
the variations manage to remain within the limits of sense, even if they give 
at best a ludicrous picture. Lord Thomas in a Virginia text of Child 73 cut 
off the brown girl's head and "stowed (stoved) it against the wall", 37 while 
he "rattled low (loud) on the rein (ring)" before Eleanor's house in an Indiana 
version. 38 A few times the corrupted text will make almost as good sense as 
what we know as the original. For example, when in Child 84 "all her friends 
cried out amen (amain) unworthy Barbara Allen" 39 or when Lord Randal 
drinks poisoned ale (eels) 40 little is lost to the person who does not know the 
original. 

It is true, however, that such word and phrase changes do frequently 
destroy rimes. 

Down she sank and away she swam, 

First place she found herself was in the mill pond (dam). 4X 

Rime is never sacred to the folk, but, oddly enough, destruction of it seems 
to occur most often when the whim of some singer, has overridden a cliche 
or set phrase. In a West Virginia text of Lord Thomas and Fair Annet. 

He called together his merry men all 
And dressed himself in black (white), 
And every town that he rode through 
They took him to be some knight. 42 

Artistically, of course, black is a more satisfactory color than white, but it 
is an obvious superimposition. A similar change occurs in a text of Fair 
Margaret and Sweet William. 

Lady Margaret died for pure love, 

Sweet William he died for sorrow. 

Lady Margaret was buried on the east of the church 

And Sweet William on the west. 



A Description of Variation j 

Here the last two lines have been altered completely and the east-west 
arrangement has replaced the obvious today-tomorrow motif. 43 Examples 
similar to these can be found by the dozens in any collection of American 
folk songs. However, before dropping the subject, it might be worthwile to 
note the representative rationalization made, in all likelihood, by a printer 
unfamiliar with the ballad commonplace "weep for gold and fee" that is to 
be found in the deMarsan broadside of James Harris. 

Says he, "Are ye weeping for gold, my love, 
Or are you weeping for fear (fee), 
Or are you weeping for your House Carpenter 
That you left and followed me . ?44 

A part of the ballad frequently affected by such verbal variations is the 
refrain. Often long since antiquated, in garbled Latin, or bordering on 
nonsense to begin with, refrains are ripe for the forces of variation to work 
upon. The "juniper, gentian, and rosemary" line mentioned earlier is illu- 
strative, as is the simple "the bough was bent to me" portion of The Twa 
Sisters which can be found as "the bough were given to me", "bow down you 
bittern to me", "and a bow 'twas unto me", "bow your bends to me", and 
any number of other similar lines. "Rosemary and thyme" becomes "rivers 
and seas are merry in time", "every rose grows merry in time", "every rose 
grows merry and fine", and so forth. Changes seem to increase in direct pro- 
portion to the amount of meaning that is lacking to the lines. 

Refrains cross from one song to another with a certain regularity, and the 
reasons for such transposition are not hard to understand. As refrains 
generally carry none of the story and at most set the mood for the song in 
which they appear, exchange and substitution come naturally. The "juniper, 
gentian, and rosemary" line occurs in a Michigan Farmer's Curst PPife 45 aad 
in a Maine Captain Wedderburn's Courtship 4 * ; while Belden expresses the 
opinion that the whole "rosemary and thyme" series found in The Elfin 
Knight and in a few texts of The Twa Sisters may belong to the same original 
burden. 47 Riddles Wisely Expounded can also be seen with a plant refrain in 
the Child Collection. 48 

But crossing over is not confined to the refrains alone. Perhaps the most 
important body of ballad variation falls under this heading. Names, phrases, 
lines, cliches, whole stanzas and motifs wander from song to song when the 
dramatic situations are approximately similar. 49 Sometimes this infiltration 
from one ballad to another is so complete and of such long standing that we 
cannot tell in which song a specific line, etc. originated. Thus Fair Ellen or 
Fair Eleanor may be the heroine of almost any song, and if she is most 
commonly found in Lord Thomas and Fair Annet she also appears frequently 



8 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

in James Harris and ia Earl Brand. 5 ** Lord Barnard, Barbara (Allen), Sweet 
William, and Lady Margaret are always possible names for any ballad 
character, and it should cause no more than moderate surprise to find Lord 
Thomas called Jimmie Randolph in some Virginia texts. 51 

In the same fashion certain lines and expressions (although not standard 
cliches) will travel from one song to another. One southern text of Little 
Musgrave and Lady Barnet tells how Lord Barnard "cut off her (his wife's) 
head and threw it against the wall", just as Lord Thomas invariably does 
in Child 73 , 52 A Tennessee ballad relates that Lord Thomas "rose one morning 
and dressed himself in blue" in the usual manner of Sweet William in 
Child 74.^ And the remark of the murderess to Young Hunting's body in a 
Virginia text: "y ur clothes are not a bit too fine to rot in the salt sea" is 
reminiscent of Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight^ 

The cliche itself is even more likely to cross from ballad to ballad. Stock 
lines, phrases and even stanzas crop up in similar situations regardless of 
story, often serving as a means for the singer to cover his lagging memory. 
Gerould has discussed this characteristic of folk poetry in some detail in The 
Ballad, of Tradition^ so that the listing of a few typical American examples 
will suffice here. A person who goes on a journey dresses in red and green or 
gold and white (see Child 73, 99, 243, and others); a man receiving a letter 
smiles at the first line and weeps at the next (see Child 58, 65, 84, 208, 209); 
roses and briars grow from lover's graves (see Child 7, 73, 74, 75, 76, 84, 85); 
a person tirls the pin at a door, and no one is so ready as the King, etc. to let 
him in (see Child 7, 53, 73, 74, 81); a story begins with people playing ball 
(see Child 20, 49, 81, 95, 155); etc. These and many similar and soon recogniz- 
able lines crop up in every part of the country and appear in almost any song 
with the proper story situations. Some of them derive from ancient folk 
beliefs, and usually they are strong enough to control the plot, in such cases 
being retained even in the face of common sense. 56 

At the same time whole stanzas cross under much the same circumstances 
as do cliches. When Lady Isabel tells a cock not to crow too soon as she is 
being courted by the elf-knight, we know that somewhere this song and 
Child 248 have come together. 57 Similar corruptions, a great number of which 
have been indexed at the back of this paper, result in the Edward-ending on 
the Vermont Twa Brothers^ and on the Appalachian Lizie Wan: The Lass 
of Roch Royal and its familiar ic who will shoe my pretty little feet" lines is 
undoubtedly the greatest traveller of all. Stanzas from this ballad can be 
found in twenty-odd American songs in which someone parts from his or her 
love. 60 

Motifs, too, are exchanged among the ballads. Many of these are almost 



A Description of Variation o, 

common enough to be considered cliches, while others are unique to one 
ballad although they have entered similar songs and often trace back to 
some particular folk custom. With the former class can be included such 
situations as the lover's interrupting his love's funeral (see Child 65, 75, 84, 
85, 87) ; the lover's opening the casket to kiss his love (see Child 74, 75, 84, 
85); a man's taking a girl on his knee to hear an explanation, etc. (see Child 
54, 73, 81); a lover's ignoring his parents' advice to stay home (see Child 73, 
99, 114); a lover's remarking he or she loves one person's finger better than 
another's whole body (see Child 73, 81, 88); a man's answering a call last, 
although he is usually the first one down (see Child 100 and no); the use of 
a palmer as a source of information (see Child 114 and 141); and a man's 
changing clothes with a beggar (see Child 17 and 140). These motifs occur 
almost universally throughout the American versions of the respective 
ballads, and the contamination, if it occurred as we suppose it did, must 
have taken place far back in history. 

Certain motifs can be traced back to the tradition of one ballad alone, 
however. When these dramatic patterns appear in a new story we know in 
what direction the contamination has moved. In this general group go such 
motifs as the bowl in which the murderer plans to place his victim's blood 
(from Lamkin, but also found in Sir Hugh in Virginia, North Carolina, 
Missouri, and other southern states, and perhaps in Maine and Michigan 
where it may have degenerated into the "dish of heart's blood" that occurs 
in some texts of Barbara Allen) f 1 the leaning against a tree to bear a child 
(from Cruel Mother, but also found in a Maine song that contains a trace of 
Jamie Douglas) ; 62 as well as the "clothes being too fine to rot in the sea" and 
"the cutting off a head and throwing it against the wall" themes that have 
been discussed earlier. 

Even when lines, phrases, and dramatic patterns do not cross from song 
to song they can often be found to change position within the versions and 
variants of an individual ballad. Much of this shifting is incidental, but once 
in a while it assumes some importance with respect to dramatic mood. For 
example, the fact that William rises and dresses himself in blue the morning 
after the dream rather than the morning of the wedding 63 makes little 
difference to the Fair Margaret and Sweet William story. However a the 
dramatic emphases of Barbara Allen and Sir Hugh are definitely changed 
when the first stanza tells of the slighting toast or contains the request of 
the boy to be buried with his Bible at his feet in the manner of certain North 
Carolina texts. 64 

As a final consideration, stanza change should be inspected as an important 
part of ballad variation. Almost all ballads have one of two basic types of 



IO British 'Traditional Ballad in North America 

stanza: the four-line ^630463 structure or the A4(refrain)A4(refrain struc- 
ture. Modifications of these main classes occur and occur frequently (for 
example, the A4E4A4B4 form), but they are really no more than modifica- 
tions. However, memory may cause the four-line structure of the ballad 
stanza to vary substantially. Barry points out that, 

. . . there are three common forms of the ballad-type of melody. In the first the 
rhythmical scheme provides for the repetition, twice, of the final syllable of the fourth 
line of each stanza, followed by the repetition of the last line entire. In the second . . . 
the scheme requires that the final syllable of the fourth line be repeated but once, be- 
fore being followed by the repetition of the whole line. The third form calls for the 
repetition of the last two lines of each stanza. The irregularity of the ballad stanza, 
imitated by Coleridge on the precedent of examples in Percy's ReliqiAes, is a minor 
accident, not of folk tradition, but of literary tradition. The early collectors did not 
record the music. Now it is well known that, though music will carry a singer over 
spots where his memory of the text is weak, the attempt to recite will leave gaps, due 
to the loss of occasional lines, gaps which the reciter or the collector will try to bridge 
by running parts of two stanzas into one. The result will be the intrusion into the 
text of stanzas of five or six lines, instead of four, of the sort so common in the early 
records of popular ballads. 65 

Concrete illustration of such variation can be provided from a Virginia 
version of Toung Beiclan. Here the stanza : 

Then up stept the brisk young porter. 
"There's a lady standing at your gate, 
And oh! she is so fair to see. 
She got more gold about her clothing 
Than your new bride and all her kin. 66 

appears and in five lines covers material that usually, and with full detail, 
takes twelve. 

The porter went unto his master, 
And bowed low upon his knees. 
"Arise, arise, my brisk young porter, 
And tell me what the matter is", 

"There's a lady standing at your door, 
And she does weep most bitterly. 
I think she is as fair a lady 
As I would wish my eyes to see. 



"She has more gold on her forefinger, 
Around her waist is diamonds strung, 
She has more gold upon her clothing 
Than your new bride and all her kin, , 



A Description of Variation H 

The same process without the change of stanza length occurs in the second 
of the following stanzas from The Two, SisUrs. Here repetition is replaced by 
additional narrative; the first stanza is typical of the song. 

The millier picked up his drab hook, 

Bow down. 
The millier picked up his drah book, 

The bow has been to me. 
The millier picked up his drab book 
And fished her out of the brook. 

True to my love, my love be true to thee. 

The millier got her a golden ring, 

Bow down, 
The millier pushed her back, 

The bow has been to me. 
The millier was hung by his mill gate, 
For drowning my poor sister Kate. 

True to my love, my love be true to thee. 68 

The second part into which I have divided my discussion of ballad varia- 
tion deals with story change. Story change, that is the alteration of the 
actual plot or basic mood of the ballad, is an extremely important, interest- 
ing, and oddly neglected field. Moreover, as new songs are often created and 
as the ways of folk art are very graphically revealed through this process, a 
study of ballad story is extremely rewarding. 

As was the case with textual variation the subject can be discussed under 
major headings based on the forces that operate to change the story of a 
folk song. Such headings would include the elimination of action, develop- 
ment toward lyric, loss of detail through forgetting; fragmentation; conven- 
tion and cliche; localization; the effect of literalness; rationalization; senti- 
mentalization; moralization; manner of use; secondary growth; new ballads 
which rise from the old; and mergers. I will discuss them separately. Never- 
theless, the close relationship of all these forces (and in particular the first 
three) cannot be overemphasized. They tend to work together and supple- 
ment one another, and in my discussions of individual ballads under the 
respective headings the fact that the other forces are also at work should not 
be forgotten. 

As has already been stated, the folk song in its travels from mouth to 
mouth always tends to concentrate more and more on the climax 69 of its 
story and to focus on but one unstable situation. A trend of this sort means 
that in the more recent versions, as so many of the American texts are, the 
real story will become confused and some of the remaining details baffling 



1 2 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

to even the singer himself. Then the way has been made easier, of course, for 
all the other forces of variation so that in some cases the thing will "snow- 
ball". Good examples of such concentration upon climax with the subsequent 
omission of antecedent and sometimes postcedent events are extremely 
numerous in the Child as well as the American collections. The Hunting of 
the Cheviot, The Twa Brothers, Fair Annie, The Broomfield Hill, Mary Ha- 
milton, Lizzie Lindsay, Lady Alice?* Edward, and Sir Lionel, among others, 
offer fine illustrations. 
Child iS, Sir Lionel, originally relates the following event. 

A knight finds a lady sitting in (or under) a tree, who tells him that a wild boar has 
slain (or worried) her lord and killed (or wounded) thirty of his men. The knight kills 
the boar, and seems to have received bad wounds in the process. The boar belonged 
to a giant, or to a wild woman. The knight is required to forfeit his hawks and leash 
and the little finger of his right hand (or his horse, his hound, and his lady). He refuses 
to submit to such disgrace, though in no condition to resist j the giant allows him time 
to heal his wounds, and he is to leave his lady as security for his return. At the end of 
the time the knight comes back sound and well, and kills the giant as he has killed the 
boar. , . The last quarter of the Percy copy would, no doubt, reveal what became of 
the lady who was sitting in the tree, as to which the traditional copies give no light. 71 

In America the narrative, at best, retains the ride in the forest, a brief pro- 
posal, and the all-important fight with the boar. The more conventional and 
unbelievable, and so less dramatic, action has been forgotten. In this par- 
ticular example, the loss of the rest of the story has contributed to a change 
of mood in the song, so that Old Bangum and the Boar is a rather jovial off- 
spring of a dignified romance. 

The Hunting of the Cheviot, that long and complicated poem of poaching, 
reprisal, individual combat, and general battle has become no more than a 
two-stanza narration of a brutal struggle between two great earls in Ten- 
nessee. 72 And, in truth, that is the essence of the entire story. It is interesting 
to note in this connection how much of the compression is artistically satisfy- 
ing. By passing off the less dramatic elements and concentrating on the 
essentials, the folk frequently unconsciously increase the poignancy and 
unity of effect in their stories. Davis notes, in speaking of Fair Annie, that 

. . . the thirty-one stanzas of the Child text have been reduced to thirteen in the 
Virginia version without the loss of a single essential detail. 70 

The development of the New World Child ballads toward lyric is often 
the result of the elimination of action. Such elimination of action may 
eventually cause lyric poetry to evolve. If this be the case, a development 
occurs from pure narrative to dramatic narrative to dramatic lyric narrative 
to lyrical narrative to pure lyric. 74 It does not seem, however, that ballad 



A Description of Variation 1 3 

ever progresses further than the dramatic lyric narrative stage. In these 
songs there is always an initial emphasis on situation, only a secondary one 
on the emotional mood. The narrative itself is still too close in tradition 
to the lyrical result for pure lyric to emerge. 

The Maine version of Mary Hamilton offers adequate illustration of this 
point. Here the story of the illicit love affair, the birth and murder of the 
baby, the Queen's subsequent anger, and the burning at the stake of the 
guilty girl has become a lyrical lament by the dying Mary Hamilton in which 
she rues her life and lot. No story is told, but one is in evidence, nevertheless, 
and a good deal of narrative is implied. The emphasis is on the situation. 

Yestre'en the queen had four Maries, 
This nicht she'll hae but three; 
There was Mary Beaton, an' Mary Seaton, 
An' Mary Carmichael an' me. 

Last nicht I dressed Queen Mary, 
An' pit on her braw silken goon, 
An* a' thanks I've gat this nicht 
Is tae be hanged in Edinboro toon. 

little did my mither ken, 
The day she cradled me, 
The land I was tae travel in, 
The death I was tae dee. 

They-ve tied a hanky roon me een, 
An' they'll no let me see tae dee: 
An' they've pit on a robe o' black 
Tae hang on the gallows tree. 

Yestre'en the queen had four Maries, 
This nicht she'll hae but three: 
There was Mary Beaton, an' Mary Seaton, 
An' Mary Carmichael an' me. 76 

Of the same general lyric-narrative sort are the southern text of The Death 
of Queen Jane** 1 with its touching refrain "the Red Rose of England shall 
flourish no more"; the versions of The Elfin Knight where only the statement 
of tasks, first by the man and then by the girl, remains; 78 the texts of the 
Cherry Tree Carol that are little more than heavenly prophecies of the life 
of Jesus, 70 and the Lizzie Lindsay fragments that are merely lover's requests 
to "go to the highlands with me". 80 

The Maine Rantin Laddie, however, represents a slightly different change 
of the same general nature, as does the West Virginia Braes of T arrow. In the 



14. British Traditional Ballad in North America 

former, a story of a girl who bears a nobleman an illegitimate child and is 
eventually rescued by him from her family, only the situation is retained and 
the song has become a sort of lullaby through the addition of two "hush, 
a-by" stanzas. 

Aft hae I played at the cards an* dice 
For the love o* a rantin' laddie, O, 
But noo I maun sit in the ingle neuk, 
An' by-lo a bastard babbie O. 

Sing hush-a-by, an' hush-a-by, 
An' hush-a-by-lo babbie, O, 
O hush-a-by, an* hush-a-by, 
An* hush-a-by, wee babbie O. 

Sing hush-a-by, an* hush-a-by, 
An' hush-a-by-lo babbie, O, 
O had your tongue, ma ain wee wean, 
An A gae a sook o' the pappie, O. 81 

In the latter, we find a poem based on the traditional ballad returning to 
popular circulation. The lyrical embellishments and sophisticated versifica- 
tion superimposed by the individual poet upon the folk song are still very 
much in evidence, and stanzas such as the following are heard in oral tradi- 
tion: 

Fair was thy love, fair, fair indeed thy love, 
In flowery bands thou didst him fetter; 
Tho* he was fair and well beloved again, 
Than me he did not love thee better. 82 

Such a sophistication represents more than a development toward lyric, of 
course, but the influence of the poet on folk song in both textual and narrative 
aspects is a separate study and can not be given more than passing attention 
here. 

Closely related to the elimination of action and this development toward 
lyric is loss of detail. Loss of detail differs, as a force in ballad variation,, 
from these two other processes in that it does not derive from concentration 
on the climax of the story, but rather is a result of forgetting and omission. 
Even when a song does not compress the particular action or event, fre- 
quently the story will change because of lapses of memory which occur at 
key points. In this way a ballad may eventually degenerate to nonsense or 
become so vague that the story Is impossible to follow. 

The Queen of Elf an 9 s Nourice tells of a girl who is abducted by fairies that 
she may wet-nurse an elf-baby just after her own child is born. In keeping 



A Description of Variation 1 5 

with, the usual practice, she can expect to be returned as soon as this elf- 
bairn can use his legs. In the Wisconsin text of the song, 83 we are told of the 
cow-like elf-call asking the girl to come below the sea and nurse the baby, 
and we are given the dialogue in which the elf-king asks her why she mourns. 
But the speakers are not clear, the change in setting is not revealed, and the 
details of the story cannot be followed unless the plot is previously known. 
The result, to the untutored, thus becomes a series of confusing lines on the 
general subject of fairy abduction. Certainly the singer who knows only the 
American lines has no idea of the traditional tale, and were a suitable ex- 
planation to present itself the story might easily be resolved into a new form. 
This occurrence can be seen in a text of Lamkin** in which the story has be- 
come so abbreviated that only the baby is slain, and so it is his blood that 
is caught in the silver bowl. 

The most graphic examples of loss of detail result when the ending of a 
ballad is forgotten. In a Virginia version of James Harris the ballad con- 
cludes without the shipwreck, although the wife does rue her decision to run 
away. The reason for this finish is obviously nothing but the omission of the 
sinking and Hell stanzas. However, the fact remains that the new form of 
the story with the indefinite ending has become as real as the original forms 
and in its indefiniteness is ready to be sentimentalized or even localized. In 
The Twa Sisters texts from the south printed by Henry Perry and Cox 85 the 
omission of the robbery of the miller causes the story to end in a rescue of 
the girl. Whether the happy endings sometimes found in this song owe their 
existence to a similar fragment or not is a matter of conjecture. Nevertheless, 
there is the possibility. For, along similar lines, in connection with this same 
song, the earlier omission of the harp motif has caused a series of changes 
and developments that have resulted directly or indirectly in more than a 
dozen American plot arrangements. 

It is not uncommon, moreover, to find a fragment of a ballad existing as 
a song in its own right. The "shoe my foot" lines of The Lass of Rock Royal 
are often sung by themselves, 86 and the common American form of Bessy 
Bell and Mary Gray is but one stanza long and appears without story as a 
nonsense rime. 

Betsey Bell and Mary Gray, 
They were two bonnie lasses; 
They biggit a brig on yonder brae 
And thichet it o'er with rashes. 87 

Such fragments are usually the most catchy and melodic portions of the 

ballad and stay in the mind easily and long after the story has disappeared. 

Sometimes loss of detail combines with the other forces of degeneration 



1 6 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

to produce extremely corrupt and nonsensical songs much as the Texas 
Negro Boberick Allen and the "sea-captain" text of the American Brown 
Girl. In the former instance the old love tale has not only become fragmentary, 
butBoberick is a man. In this version the girls can't see why "I" (the singer) 
follow him. He goes to town and back attempting to see "me" follow him, 
but he can't because "I was away somewhere". In the latter, a sea-captain, 
Pretty Polly, and Miss Betsy are involved in a unique triangle love affair 
in which the lovers, the story, and the dialogue are only clear in their utter 
confusion. Such abortionate offspring are unusual, but they do graphically 
illustrate the "road downhill". 88 

Alterations of the ballad story also result from the forces of convention 
and cliche working independently or together on the plot usually, how- 
ever, after loss of detail has served to make the story incomplete. It is, 
perhaps, difficult to realize the power that convention and cliche have in 
folk narrative unless we keep reminding ourselves of the manner in which 
they have often overcome common sense within the text itself. In a New- 
foundland version of Fair Margaret and Sweet William Lady Margaret goes 
to her family after seeing William and his bride on the street below, her 
window and asks her mother and sister to make her bed and bind her head 
because she feels ill. These are conventional lines and yet add a scene to the 
story that other texts do not have. In the Canadian Andrew Lammie, be- 
cause the same sort of cliche : 

mother dear, make my bed, 
And make it soft and bonny, 
My true love died for me today, 
I'll die for him tomorrow. 89 

entered the song the lover dies before the girl, although much of the drama 
of the original story depends on the fact that she dies first. 00 And, finally, 
the ending on the southern Appalachian Lady Maisry, in which the hero 
is so late that he can only stop the girl's funeral, kiss the corpse, and die him- 
self, is in direct contradiction of the dramatic failure in the final few seconds 
of the rescue in the other texts. 91 In both these last two cases it is almost 
certain the cliche ending became attached after the regular conclusion had 
d ropped off. 

Somewhat similar story changes occur where literalness and localization 
are given the opportunity to function. In the North Carolina and Georgia 
versions of the American Brown Girl a literal interpretation of the famous, 

Oh am I the doctor that you sent for me ? 

Or am I the young man whom you wanted to see ? 

has resulted in the lover's becoming a physician. 



A Description of Variation ij 

There was a young doctor, from London he came, 
He courted a damsel called Sarah by name. 92 

And when a particular ballad story is closely paralleled by a local event or 
series of events, new names, new localities, new dramatic situations, and 
even new endings are likely to enter the old song. Barbara Allen and Lord. 
Randal have already been used to illustrate the first two points, and a West 
Virginia Gypsie Laddie** will serve the same purpose for the last two. The 
traditional story of the noble lady who forsakes all comforts to flee with her 
gypsy lover has become a tale about "Billy Harman whose wife had gone off 
with Tim Wallace, Harman's brother-in-law. Wallace was very ugly and 
the wife very pretty. She never came back; he did". The new story mentions 
the local streams the "War" and the "Barranshee", and the woman's name 
is Melindy. Although the singer of this text could not recall the final stanza, 
we are told the husband in pursuit inquired if the wife "had gone that road", 
but on receiving a negative reply returned home. Thus, the meeting with 
the elopers and the subsequent scorning of the husband were left out be- 
cause in the local event the lovers were not overtaken. 

Rationalization is one of the most powerful of all the forces that work on 
ballads. In Britain and America as belief in ghosts, fairies, and other spiritual 
characters dwindles, everyday substitutes are provided, so that an elfin 
knight becomes a gypsy lover and later an illicit lover or even the lodger, 
while a mermaid is replaced by a mortal, if mysterious, sweetheart. So 
strong is such rationalization that most of our modern versions of the old 
ghost, witch, etc. ballads have lost all or nearly all traces of the super- 
natural. 94 Thus James Harris gener?lly appears today as a triangle love tale 
between three mortals, the harp motif has nearly vanished from The Twa 
Sisters, and Sir Hugh's body seldom speaks miraculously from the well. 95 
Of course, certain ballads are still completely retained in their supernatural 
form, but these are usually out and out ghost stories or religious tales like 
The Suffolk Miracle or The Cherry Tree Carol that would not survive if 
rationalized. But, on the whole, the devil, the elf, the mermaid, and the like 
have left or are leaving the songs. Barry's explanation of the Croodlin Doo 
evolution of Lord Randal demonstrates the trend. 

The secondary form of "Lord Randal", that is, "The Croodlin Doo" (Child J, Kc, 
L, M, N, 0), presents the situation of a child, questioned by the mother, telling how 
his step-mother has poisoned him with "wee fishes", or "a four footed fish". There 
is no absurdity, from the point of view of folklore, of mother and stepmother appear- 
ing in the same ballad. "The Croodlin Doo" furnishes a unique example in English of 
the spirit of a dead mother returning to comfort a child abused by a cruel stepmother. 
... As the belief in ghosts faded, or perhaps for other reasons, the apparent absurdity 
of the situation in the ballad made necessary the finding of a villain who would not 



1 8 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

have to wait for the mother's death. Child Ka, Kb. . . and R. . . give folk ration- 
alization. . . and have introduced the grandmother in place of the stepmother, 96 

The attitudes held by individuals toward the material often shape ballad 
stories with respect to mood. Morality, sentimentality,, and comedy are in- 
serted under individual circumstances by individual singers, printers, and 
other persons who contact folk material. Not infrequently their revisions 
and additions survive. A conventional stanza will often appear at the finish 
of Barbara Allen or James Harris warning "ye virgins all" to "shun the fate 
I fell in", and sometimes a whole song will be revised to point a moral. In a 
Wisconsin version of The Two. Corbies, two crows plan to eat a newly-born 
lambkin that lies by a rock. A passing bird, overhearing the scheme, hurries 
to warn the helpless animal to flee, and the song closes with the following 
last lines: 

God grant that each lambkin that is in our flock 
Be told of his danger as he lies hy the rock. 97 

Other variations are closely allied to such moralizing. For example, Belden 
points out that the "naked woman" lines have been left out of a Missouri 
text of Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight and two misplaced verses inserted in- 
stead. 98 Squeamishness and religious scruples continually haunt the American 
folk singer. The incest themes of The Cruel Brother, The Twa Brothers, and 
Lizie Wan have vanished or are rapidly vanishing. Vance Randolph and 
Ruby Duncan both report informants who were reluctant to sing Our Good- 
man?* And many a collector has been hindered by the fact that the "old 
love songs" are too frivolous. Likewise, the desire for justice, reflected in 
the ending of The Sweet Trinity in which the enraged crew throws the captain 
overboard 100 seems to show a Christian dissatisfaction with some of the 
stories of the traditional songs. 

The sentimentalization of narrative material is common too. The lover 
who reforms and apologizes in the American Brown Girl, the trooper in The 
Trooper and the Maid who promises to return and marry the girl, the gallant 
refusal of the cabin boy in The Sweet Trinity to sink either his mates or the 
girl he loves no matter how treacherous the captain, the husband in The 
Farmers Curst Wije who welcomes his shrewish mate back from Hell, the 
girl who turns against her lover after he slays her father in Earl Brand, and 
the other incidents of the same sort are typical of what can happen to many 
objective and cold Child ballads in America. 

Not all ballad versions are taken as seriously as those that become senti- 
mentalized. Sir Lionel, as already noted, has become a jocular jingle from an 
originally elaborate romance, and The Three Ravens has lost all the beauty 
of the cynical Scotch and moving English texts. Print is, of course, a frequent 



A Description of Variation 1 9 

cause of such degenerations. In The Soldier's Wooing series (the American 
Erlinton 101 ) the callousness of the girl who, as her father and lover battle, 
refuses the former's offers to permit the marriage and to give the couple 
a 10,000 dowry and holds out for more money has been traced by Barry 
to an English broadside. 102 But print is not the only factor. The following 
comment was made about the conclusion of Lord Thomas and Fair Annet in 
Newfoundland. 

Just imagine when they were all laying in one grave, and the trump sounded for 
the Judgment Day, and they was all scrabbling for their bones, if Lord Thomas 
should get one of the brown girl's legs. 103 

When the situations in a traditional song become ludicrous to the singers, 
the story cannot resist for long, and if parodies do not provide an outlet, as 
in the case of Lori Lovel* the original text must suffer. 105 

The purpose for which a song is sung may also serve to modify the story 
and mood of a particular ballad. The use of traditional texts in dramatic 
presentations, in children's games, as lullabies, and as play-party or dance 
accompaniments has shaped and fashioned a large number of texts. The 
Maid Freed from the Gallows is given detailed consideration in this respect 
by Reed Smith in his South Carolina Ballads where he traces the develop- 
ment of this story through Virginia Negro dramas, New York children's 
games, and West Indian cante-f able revisions. 106 William Newell and Botkin 
both discuss Barbara Allen as an evening dance song, 107 and Arthur Hudson 
notes that a Mississippi version of Sir Hugh that was used to sing children 
to sleep was rendered with the bloody stanzas omitted. 108 

The secondary ballad 109 offers a problem in story change different from 
any of those we have faced so far. Usually the direct result of a broadside, 
a sophisticated poet's tamperings, or a printer's text, these songs share a 
mutual ancestory with the Child texts, but are at the same time no longer 
versions of the traditional ballad. The Rich Irish Lady (see Child 295) and 
The Torkshire Bite (see Child 283) are the most graphic American illustra- 
tions, although The Squire of Edinburgh Town (see Child 221), The Half- 
Hitch (see Child 31), High Barbaree (see Child 285), and The Soldier's 
Wooing (see Child 8) are also popular. 110 

The Brown Girl> in Child, is the story of a young man who becomes 
attached to a girl, but sends her a letter saying he will not marry her be- 
cause she is so brown. She becomes proud. Later, he is sick or lovesick and 
sends for her to cure him with affection. She takes her time in going and 
mocks him when she arrives. Revengefully she returns his troth by stroking 
his breast with a white wand and promises to dance on his grave. The 
American stories, in which the sexes are reversed, the brown color and the 



2O British Traditional Ballad in North America 

white wand lost, and the "Are you the doctor?" stanzas found, derive in- 
directly from the Child tale through a broadside adaption that was popular 
in England under titles such as The Bold Soldier and Sally and Billy. The 
Torkshire Bite goes back, not to the Child Crafty Farmer story, but to one 
of a number of parallel traditions 111 that existed in Britain during the eigh- 
teenth century. Child, in speaking of the latter song, states that, 

This very ordinary ballad has enjoyed great popularity and is given for that reason 
as a specimen of its class. There is an entirely similar one in which a Norfolk . . . 
farmer's daughter going to market to sell corn is substituted for the farmer going to 
pay his rent. . . . Another variety is of a Yorkshire boy sent to a fair to sell a cow. 113 

He also mentions ballads about "a country girl beset by an amorous gentle- 
man" who mounts the villain's horse and makes off with his valise" and 
about "a gentleman, who, having been robbed by five highwaymen that 
then purpose to shoot him, tells them that he is the Pretender, and is taken 
by them as such to a justice". 

In a somewhat like way the broadside alterations of Geordie have largely 
supplanted the older texts of the ballad and become what may be considered 
the primary form of the song in popular circulation. Most American versions 
of the story derive from The Life and Death of George of Oxford, a broadside 
undoubtedly based on a local situation in which the hero was hung. The 
happier finish of the traditional story is not common today. 113 

However, it is not necessary to go to broadsides and parallel traditions to 
find new ballads growing out of an older series of songs. One of the most 
important things about the study of story change is the light such pursuits 
throw on the birth of new works. If enough forces operate or a force of 
sufficient strength operates, on a tradition, a story may be created that will 
begin a ballad sequence in its own right. Thus, Henry Martin has risen from 
Sir Andrew Barton and Giles Collins and Clerk Colmll have come from the 
older Johnny Collins story of Child 85. 114 Henry Martin appears to be the 
result of the omission of the chase and capture from Sir Andrew Barton^ 
while Giles Collins and Clerk Colmll show the Johnny Collins ballad split 
into two parts, each of which has become a separate story, 

If subtraction and division create new narratives, so does addition. Child 

has noted that the entire Edward ballad is frequently added to other songs. 

More or less of Edward will be found in four versions of The Two. Brothers and two 



And the same junction, probably brought over from England already com- 
plete, was discovered by Mrs. Flanders in Vermont. 116 In like fashion The 
Death of Queen Jane lends its funeral to the Duke of Bedford and The Maid 
Freed from the Gallows enters numerous badman tales. 118 



Footnotes 21 

Thus we have a description of the major forces of variation that work 
upon the Child ballad in America. From the facts few, very few, conclusions 
can be drawn, because any attempt to go beyond extreme generalities is 
bound to cause trouble. Every word, line, phrase, stanza, and story that 
circulates creates its own individual history. 

With this warning in mind, then, we had best merely say that variation 
is most likely to occur where vagueness and confusion exist, that in America 
the change in society and the distance in history of so many ballad events 
has presented ideal circumstances for change, and that new versions and 
variants arise from a combination of factors and processes and seldom from 
one force of variation operating alone. But where we speak more specifically 
and say that the traditional ballad entering America tends to become more 
sentimental and moral, we must recall that in a Texas variant of Child 95 
the prisoner is hung on rather than freed from the gallows 119 and that 
Captain Wedderburn is not said to marry the girl he seduces in the New 
England versions of Child 46. When we note that these British songs become 
more compact and often more generalized in meaning, we cannot forget the 
mergers and additions that have served to expand certain texts. Rationaliza- 
tions and localizations do occur in America with greater frequency than ever 
before, but at the same time supernatural figures, archaic customs, unknown 
places, and unknown characters are retained faithfully in many texts. It is 
true that sometimes there is a striving for artistic effect and often an over- 
lapping of motifs and even lines in the New World, but many more times the 
traditional simplicity and integrity is retained. And if forgetting, merging, 
and loss of detail work with their customary power, songs can also be found 
that are word for word like their British ancestors. A few are even longer. 120 

To say more than this seems to me foolhardy. It becomes an attempt to 
define human nature. 

FOOTNOTES 

7 All Child versions are not older than their American parallels. See Barry's discussions of 
this point (at every opportunity) in British Ballads from Maine, especially pp. looff. in 
connection with Child 49. 

8 Jane Zielonko, op. cit., discusses much of this material in her "Conclusion" and gives 
some very helpful lists on pp. 115 and 117. 

9 A. K. Davis, op. **., p. 36. 

10 W. R. MacKenzie, Quest of the Ballad, p. 189. 

11 A comparison of the Child A version of James Harris (243) with any of the American 
House Carpenter texts will demonstrate these points. 

13 See H. M. Belden, op. cit., Headnotes for references to the influence of print on the Child 
ballads. Belden makes a great deal of this point and often hypothesizes on the subject. 
See also my discussion of Erlinton (8). 



22 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

18 A traditional ballad is usually considered to have the following qualities, the lack of any 
of which destroys the form: a narrative of plotted action with only the climax event or 
events given; a tendancy to focus on one climax of one unstable situation; absolute im- 
personality; and an oral, folk tradition. 

11 See the arguments by Barry and Henry concerning this point in JAFL, XLV, p. 8. Lord 
Lovel and Barbara Allen (see my discussions under Child 75 and 84) also support such a 
stand. 

15 For example, see James Bird, which was written by Charles Miner and printed in his paper 
The Gleaner at Wilkes-Barre, Pa. in 1814. Refer to Belden, op. cit., 296, as well as Mary 
0. Eddy, Ballads and Songs from Ohio, 267 and Franz Rickaby, Ballads and Songs of the 
Shanty-Boy, 221. Another example is Toung Charlotte, which was written by Seba Smith 
and published by him in The Rover, II, 4t :i 5? 2Z 5 under the title A Corpse Going to a Ball. 
See Barry, BFSSNE- XII, 27. 

16 Robert Burns' Red. Red Rose; William Hamilton's Braes of T arrow; Sir Walter Scott's 
Lochinvar; and Swinburne's experiments (see C. Hyder's article in PMLA, XLIX, p. 295 ff.) 
are cases in point. Note should also be made of The Twa Corbies text from Indiana (JAFL, 
XLV 3 p. 8) which traces back to Cleveland's Compendium, 1859, and Allan Cunningham. 
Check also the discussion of Burns' use of folk song in MLR, VI, p. 5Hff. 

17 William Hamilton's Braes of T arrow was found in West Virginia by Cox, op. cit., p. 137. 
It is almost identical textually to the poem, but quite abbreviated. 

18 These new versions are, of course, quite subject to the forces of variation in their archaisms, 
strangeness, etc. 

19 BFSSNE, XII, p. 9 and my discussion of Story Type C under Child i. 

20 Die Fischerin. See the song sung by Vater, Nicklas, and Dortchen, 

21 With respect to this point Zielonko, op. cit.; HFLQ, IV, #3, p. 41 ff.; Barry's work in 
JAFL, BFSSNE, and British Ballads from Maine; SFLQ, I, #4? P- 25& 5 and the other 
books and articles cited in Footnote 3 should be consulted. 

22 For additional information concerning this sort of change and the reactions of individual 
singers to specific word alterations, see Shearin's article in Sewanee Review, XIX, 317. 
See also JAFL, LIX, 263 ff. There is a doctoral dissertation, Place Names in the English 
and Scottish Popular Ballads and Their American Variants^ done at Ohio State in 1947 by 
W. Edson Richmond. 

23 See Reed Smith, South Carolina Ballads, p. $7ff. and JAFL, XL VII, p. 338 for further 
examples. 

24 Davis, op. cit., 130. 

26 Barry, British Ballads from Maine, 324. 
26 Belden, op. cit., Child 2776. 

87 Barry, British Ballads from Maine, Child 277 A B. For further information, see Randolph, 
op. cit., I, p. 75. 

28 Earl Beck, Songs of the Michigan Lumberjacks, p. 107. 

29 Barry, British Ballads from Maine, p. 412. 

30 Davis, op. dt., p. 105 and Cox, op. cit., p. 24. 

81 Barry, British Ballads from Maine, p. 256. 

82 Harold Thompson, Body, Boots, and Britches, p. 379. 
33 Jules Allen, Cowboy Lore, p. 74. 

84 Davis, op. tit., p. 90. See also W. Va. School Journal and Educator, XL VI, p. 83. 

36 Ibid., p. 1 88. 

86 Cox, op. cit., p, 1 8. 



Footnotes 



37 Davis, op. cit., p. 216. 

38 Brewster, op. cit., p. 44. 

39 Cox, op. cit., p. 97. 



41 Brewster, op. cit., p. 44. 

42 Cox, op. **., p. 48, 

43 Brewster, op. cit., p. 77 and the footnote on that page. 

44 Broadside (imprint: de Marsan, List 5, #9) *& & Alfred Harris Collection, John Hay 
Library, Brown University. Reprinted by Barry, British Ballads from Maine, pp. 38off. 

45 Gardner and Chickering, Ballads and Songs of Southern Michigan, p. 373. 

46 Barry, British Ballads from Maine, p. 322. 

47 Belden, op. cit., pp. 16 and 92. 

48 F. J. Child, The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, iB. 

49 See "An Index to Borrowing in the Child Ballads of America** which is affixed to the end 
of this study. 

50 For example, see the Sharp-Karpeles, English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, 
p. i4ff. and Davis, op. cit., p. 440 ff. 

61 See Sharp-Karpeles j op. cit., p. 17; Davis, op. cit., p, 182; and the Maude Minish Mss. in 
the Houghton Library, Harvard University; among others for illustrations. Also check 
the discussion in the Zielonko Master's Thesis under Child 68. 

53 Quotation from Davis, op. cit., p. 301. Refer also to Cox, op. cit., p. 95 and Sharp-Karpeles, 
op. cit., p. 170. 

53 Mellinger Henry, 29 Beech Mt, Folk Songs, p. 16. 

54 Davis, op. cit., p. 189- 

55 Gordon Gerould, The Ballad of Tradition, p. ii4ff. 
66 This point is discussed later in this paper. See p. 16. 

57 From the Minish Mss. 

58 Vermont Historical Society, Proceedings, N.S., VII, p. 102. 

59 Sharp-Karpeles, op. cit., p, 89. 

60 See my discussion under Child 76. 

61 See Barry's explanation of this motif in JAFL, LII, p. 74 which is reconstructed in the 
discussion of Child 93 in this paper. Also refer to Davis, op. cit., p. 405; Belden, op. cit., 
p. 71 ; and Sharp-Karpeles, op. cit., p. 224 for Sir Hugh examples, and to Gardner and 
Chickering, op. cit., p. 51 and Barry, British Ballads from Maine, p, 198 for Barbara 
Allen examples. 

62 See Barry, British Ballads from Maine, p. 470. 

63 Sharp-Karpeles, op. cit., p. 135. 

64 Ihid., pp. 187 and 222. 

65 Barry, British Ballads from Maine, p. 128. 

66 Davis, op. cit., p. 160, 

67 Ibid., p. 164. 

68 Ibid., p. 102. 

69 See Zielonko, op. cit,, p. 117 for a discussion. 

70 See the discussions referred to in Footnote 3 by Bayard and by Parker, and summarized 
under Child 85 in this paper, for information on the Clerk Colvill and Johnny Collins 
ballads. 

71 See Child, op. cit., I, p. 208. 



2 4 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

72 Mason, op. cit., p. 15. In connection with his J version of Child 293, Davis reveals similar 
compression. 

73 Davis, op. cit., p. 177. 

74 Compare the remarks of L. K. Goetz in Volkslied und Volksleben der Kroaten imd Serben 
on the same subject. 

76 It should be noted that Barry, British Ballads -from Maine, p. 259 and Child, op. cit., V, 
p. 299 both state that this tradition of Child 173 has been subject to sophisticated cor- 
ruption. However, the Maine text used here is pure. 

76 Barry, British Ballads from Maine, p. 258. 

77 Scarborough, A Songcatcher in the Southern Mountains, p. 254. See my Story Type B under 
Child 170. 

78 See Sharp-Karpeles, op. cit., p. i. 

79 JAFL, XLV, p. 13 See my Story Type E under Child 54. 

80 Barry, British Ballads -from Maine, p. 297 See my Story Type B under Child 226. 

81 Ibid., pp. 303- 4. 
83 Cox, op. cit., p. 138. 



85 Henry Perry, A Sampling of the Folk Lore of Carter County, p. 98 and Cox, Traditional 
Ballads Mainly from West Virginia, p. 6. 

86 See, for example, Davis, op. cit., p. 263 ff. 

87 Itid., p. 434. 

88 See fTFLS, X, 149 or VII, in for the Barbara Allen text and JAFL, XLV, 54 for the 
Brown. Girl text. Also see Reed Smith, op. cit., p. 64 where he discusses the "Poor Anzo" 
Lord Randal in his chapter The Road Downhill. 

89 See MacKenzie, Ballads and Sea-Songs from Nova Scotia, pp. 60 and 124. 

90 See Child, op. cit., 233. Note also that the fragmentary nature of the text has undoubtedly 
been a factor here. 

91 Scarborough, op. cit., p. 137. 

92 Sharp-Karpeles, op. cit., Child 295, texts A and F, on pp. 295 and 298. The quotation is- 
from text F, stanza i. 

93 Cox, Folk Songs of the South, p. 133 (Child 200, the D text). This song was said to have 
been composed by Henry Mitchell. However, at best, he adapted The Gypsy Laddie. 

94 On the other hand, however, the mysterious disappearance of the wife that is implied by 
the West Virginia account is left out of the West Virginia song because the ballad does 
not (at least in the text used) go beyond the husband's pursuit. 

95 See the Story Types in this study for examples of supernatural material surviving in 
these and other ballads. 

9e Barry, British Ballads from Maine, p. 71. See also his discussion of Lamkin cited in Foot- 

note 6 1. 

<" JAFL, XX, p. 154. 
88 Belden, op. cit., p. 7. 
99 Randolph, op. cit., I, p. 183 and Ruby Duncan, Ballads and Folk Songs in North Hamilton 

County, p. 102. 

100 Shoemaker, Mountain Minstrelsy, p. 132. 

101 See my discussions under Child 7 and 8 in this study. 

102 JAFL, XXIII, p. 447. 

103 Gardner and Chickering, op. cit., p. 20. 



Footnotes 25 

104 See Davis, op. cit.j p. 2585 Cox, Folk Songs of the South, p. 78; Belden, op. cit., p. 54; and 
Cox, Traditional Ballads Mainly from West Virginia, p. 28. 

105 The refrain is an excellent indicator of this change in mood. Compare the American 
"dillum, down, dillum, kimmy ko" with the Child "blow thy home, good hunter" in Sir 
Lionel. 

106 See Reed Smith, op. cit., Chapter VIII. 

10? William Newell, Games and Songs of American Children^ p. 78 and Benjamin Botkin, 
American Play-Party Song, p. 58. 

108 Hudson, op. cit., p. 116. 

109 This expression has not been fully accepted by folk scholars. However, meaning "songs 
directly derived from Child ballads", the term has the value of definiteness for a discussion 
of this sort. But I do realize that exact classifications on the derivative level are almost 
impossible to make. 

110 These are representative titles. The songs appear under many other names. 

111 See also The Maid of Rygate (Greenleaf and Mansfield, Ballads and Sea-Songs of New- 
foundland^ p. 47) which is discussed as Story Type C under Child 283 in this paper. 

112 Child, op. ctt.y V, pp. 1289. 

113 However, see discussion under Child 209 in this work. For the discussion of a somewhat 
similar tradition see Barry's essay on Sir James Ross/ Rose in British Ballads from Maine., 
p. 290. 

114 s ee the discussions of Child 167 and 85 respectively in this work for the scholarship that 
uncovered these facts. 

115 Child, op. cit., I, p. 167. 

116 Vermont Historical Society, loc. cit. 

117 See Flanders, Vermont Folk Songs and Ballads, p. 219 and Barry, BFSSNE, II, p. 7. 

118 See Hudson, op. >., p. 113 and John Lomax, Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads^ 

P- *59- 

119 See Child 95 in this work, Story Type D. 

130 See The Whummil Bore (JAFL, XX, p. 155), Child 27. 



A CRITICAL, BIBLIOGRAPHICAL STUDY 
OF THE TRADITIONAL BALLAD IN AMERICA 



A CRITICAL, BIBLIOGRAPHICAL STUDY 
OF THE TRADITIONAL BALLAD IN AMERICA 

i. RIDDLES WISELY EXPOUNDED 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 4.29 / BFSSNE, X, 8; XII, 8 / R.P.T. Coffin, Lost Paradise. 
199 / Davis, Trd Bid Va, 59 / JAFL, XII, 129 / Jones, F-L Mich, 5 / Niles, Bids Crls Tgc 
Lgds, z I Va FLS Bull, #10, 5. 

Local Titles: Riddles Wisely Expounded, The Devil and the Nine Questions, The Devil's 
Nine Questions, The Nine Questions, The Three Riddles. 

Story Types: A: A dialogue with, the speakers named. The Devil, on the 
threat of removing a girl to Hell, asks her what is whiter than milk, louder 
than a horn, higher than a tree, more innocent than a lamb, etc. The maid 
answers snow, thunder, Heaven, a babe, etc. and names the Devil. The latter 
then admits defeat. Examples: Davis. 

B : The same sort of motif as that of Type A is used, but when the girl 
answers the questions and names the Devil, he says he will take her to Hell 
regardless. Examples : Niles. 

C: A lesson in the way to get a lover. The Devil has become a cavalier, and 
there are three pretty maids in search of a man. The youngest, who knows 
the answers, wins the cavalier. 

Examples : BFSSNE,X, 8. 

Discussion: The Type A and Type B American texts, which are extremely 
rare, are closest to the Child A*, C, and D versions in their obvious concern 
with the Devil. (See Davis, Trd Bid Va^ 59 for a comparison of the Virginia 
texts with Child.) The song seems to have originally been a battle of wits 
between the Devil and a girl (cf. Child A*) which was first secularized and 
then rationalized. It was discovered late in America, first by Alfreda Peel, 
and printed by Davis with the Virginia Collection. (See Davis > Trd Sid Va^ 
46 7 for an account of the discovery.) 

The Type C text uncovered by Barry in New England traces back to 
Child Ad indirectly. See BFSSNE, XII, 9 where the history of the "cavalier" 
form of the ballad is given from d'Urfey's Pills to Purge Melancholy through 
the German translation by Herder (cf . Goethe's opera die Fischerin) back to 
an English re-translation by William Aytoun in Blackwood's Magazine, 
LVII, 173 5. Comparative texts and a discussion of this re-emergence of a 
folk song are given here. 

29 



30 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

Also check BFSSNE, X, 9 where the romantic and homelitic forms of 
this song are briefly discussed, and the idea that the Child F and Jones, 
jF-i Mich, 5 texts are members of the Captain Wedderburn's Courtship (46) 
tradition is expressed. 

Elizabeth Cooke (JAFL, XII, 29) incorporates the riddle portion of the 
ballad in a story, The Bride of the Evil One, told her by a Martinique Negro 
from New Orleans. The girl in this story confounds Satan much as she does 
in the ballad. 

The common American refrain is the "ninety-nine and ninety-weavers 
bonny" burden. 



2. THE ELFIN KNIGHT 

Texts: Jane G. Austin, Dr. Le Baron and his Daughter, 314 / Barry, Brit Bids Me, 3 / 
Belden, Mo F-S, I / Brewster, Bids Sgs Ind, 23 / Brown Coll / Chappell, F-S Rnke Alb, 1 1 / 
Child, I, 19; V, 284 / Davis FS Va / Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 3 / Flanders, Garl Gn Mt Sg, 58 / 
Flanders, New Gn Mt Sgstr, 8 / Flanders, Vt F-S Bids, 194 / Gardner and Chickering, Bids 
Sgs So Mich, 137 / Gray, Sgs Bids Me Vjks, 78 / Henry, F-S So Hghlds, 31 / JAFL, VII, 228 ; 
XIII, 120; XVIII, 49; XIX, 130; XXIII, 430; XXVI, 174; XXX, 284; LII, 14 / Jones, F-L 
Mich, 5 / Linscott, F-S Old NE, 169 / "Love Letter and Answer" (broadside in Harris Coll., 
Brown University), Hunts and Shaw, Boston / Morris, Fla F-S, 364 / Musick, F-L Kirksville, 
i / Pound, Nebr Syllabus, io/ PTFLS, X, 137; Randolph, OzF~S, I, 38 / Ring, NE F-S, 12 / 
Sandburg, Am Sgbag, 60 / SharpK, EngF-S So Aplchns, I, i / Shoemaker, Mt Mnstly, 134 / 
Shoemaker, No Pa Mnstly, 129 / Songs for the Million (c, 1844): "Love's Impossibility" / 
SFLQ, VIII, 135 / Thompson, Bdy Bts Brtchs, 423. 

Local Titles: A True Lover of Mine, Blow Ye Winds Blow, (The) Cambric Shirt, Every 
Grove is Merry in Time, Go and Make Me a Cambric Shirt, Go Marry in Time, I Want You 
to Make Me a Cambric Shirt, Mother Make Me a Cambric Shirt, Oh Say Do You Know the 
Way to Salin ?, Redio-Tedio, Scarborough Fair, Strawberry Lane, The Two Lovers. 

Story Types: A: A man imposes tasks centering about the making of a 
cambric shirt upon a girl. She is to be acquitted of them and get her lover 
if she can answer with ones no less difficult. Hers usually deal with an acre 
of land. The elf, a carry-over in Child from some other ballad, is properly a 
mortal suitor. 

Examples: Barry (B); Belden (A); Brewster (C) 
Flanders, New Gn Mt Sgstr; Gardner and Chickering. 

B: The story of Type A seems completely forgotten, and only a coy 
question-and-answer game between two lovers remains. 
Examples: Linscott; Randolph (A); 
Shoemaker, Mt. Mnstly; SharpK (A, B). 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study 3 1 

C: A nonsense song, carrying the degeneration a step further than Type B, 
exists. Here, the Mother is told to make "me" a cambric shirt. 
Examples: Brewster (D). 

Discussion: This ballad is the best remembered of the Child riddle songs 
both in America and Europe. However,, in this country, the elf, an inter- 
loper in Britain, has been universally rationalized to a mortal lover. Fre- 
quently, nothing remains but the riddle, sometimes even the love affair 
being absent. (See Child J, K, L, and my Types B and C.) 

The common American refrains, as in Child, are the "rosemary and 
thyme-she will be a true lover of mine" and the "blow winds blow" types, 
though the New York (Thompson, Bdy Bts Bricks, 423), the Texas (PTFLS, 
X, 137), and other versions have choruses of nonsense words. For a dis- 
cussion of the "rosemary and thyme" burden see JAFL, VII, 232. Also 
check Flanders, New Gn Mt Sgster, 10, where the line "she's worth a true 
lover of mine" is treated to show that worth is wyrth is the usual will be. 

Riddles and riddle ballads in general, as well as the riddle in this song, 
are discussed in JAFL, VII, 230, while the American songbook versions are 
reviewed by Barry, JAFL, XXX, 284, 

3. THE FALSE KNIGHT UPON THE ROAD 

Texts: American Songster (Cozzens, N. Y.) / Barry, Brit Bids Me, 1 1 / Belden, Mo F-S, 8 / 
Brewster, Bids Sgs Ind, 29 / BFSSNE, XI, 8 / Charley Fox's Minstrel's Companion (Turner 
and Fisher, Philadelphia): "Tell-Tale Polly" / Creighton, Sgs Bids NSc, i / Davis, Trd Bid 
Fa, 61 / JAFL, XXIV, 344; XXX, 285 / The Only True Mother Goose Melodies (Monroe and 
Francis, Boston, 1833), 6 / Pound, Am Bids Sgs, 4.8 / SharpC, Eng F-S So Aplchns, #i / 
SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplchns, I, 1 } I Fa FLS Bull, #7, 4. 

Local Titles: False Fidee, The' False Knight, The False Knight on the Road, Fause Knicht 
and the Wee Boy. 

Story Types: A: A child, sometimes a boy and sometimes a girl, is detained 
by the Devil or a "false knight". A number of questions are asked, but the 
child is ready with witty answers and eventually names the questioner. 
Little of the situation or setting is revealed in the dialogue. 
Examples: Brewster; Davis; SharpK (A). 

B : The question-and-answer sequence is similar to that of Type A, but 
the child throws the questioner in a well at the end. 
Examples: Belden, Pound. 

Discussion; American texts of this song are quite rare, and it is Davis' 
opinion they emanate from Virginia (Trd Sid Va, 61) to a large extent. The 



32 British 'Traditional Ballad in North America 

Type A stories are generally close to Child A. The Type B songs, where the 
boy throws the questioner in the well, show a dramatic flourish which 
stretches logic to make "right" triumph fully. 

The Nova Scotia (Creighton) version has a long and unique nonsense 
refrain added to an incomplete text, and Sharp (SharpK, Eng F-S Aplcbns, 
1, 41 1) points out that the introduction "A Knight met a child in the road . . " 
in his Tennessee version is unusual. The Maine (BFSSNE, XI, 8) version is 
interesting in its fiddle sequence and the boy's final wish that the fiddle bow 
will stick in his questioner's throat. 

Gerould (MLN, LIII, 5967) advances the idea that the Davis (Va.) 
and the SharpK (N. C.) versions may be of Irish origin, although he states 
this is not likely in the case of the Northern and Western texts. Barry, 
(JBFSSNE, XI, 89) discusses the song as a homily and treats its European 
affiliations. 

4. LADY ISABEL AND THE ELF-KNIGHT 

Texts: Adventure, 1130 '23, 191 / American Songster (Cozzens, N.Y.), 212 / American 
Speech^ III, 1 14 / Barbeau, F-S Fr Canada, 22 (inFrench) / Barbour, 6 Slds Mo Oz Mts, #4 / 
Barry, Brit Bids Me, 14 / Belden, Mo F-S, 5 / Brewster, Bids Sgs Ind, 31 / Brown Coll / 
BFSSNE, I, 3 / Bull TennFLS, VIII, #3, 65 / Bull U SC#i6z, #i / Chappell, F-S Rnkc 
'Alb, 12 / Charley Fox's Minstrel's Companion. (Turner and Fisher, Philadelphia), 52 / Child, 
III, 496 / Child Mss., XXI, 4 / Cox, F-S South, 3 / Cox, Trd Bid W Va, i / Cox, W. Va. 
School Journal and Educator, XLIV, 269; XLV, 240 / Cutting, Adirondack Cnty, 61 / Davis, 
Trd Bid Fa, 62 / Duncan, No Hamilton Cnty, 36 / Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 6 / Fauset, F-L N Sc, 
109 / Flanders, Vt F-S Bids, 190 / Focus, IV, 161, 212 / Folk Lore Journal, VII, 28 / Gardner 
and Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mich, 31 / Gordon, F-S Am, 68 / Greenleaf and Mansfield, Bids 
Sea Sgs Newf, 3 / Henry, F-S So Hghlds, 32 / Hudson, F-S Miss, 61 / Hudson, F-T Miss, 10 / 
Hudson, Spec Miss F-L,#i / Hummel, Oz F-S / Jones, F-L Mich, 5 / JAFL, XVIII, 132; 
XIX, 232; XXII, 65, 374; XXIII, 374; XXIV, 333, 344; XXVII, 90; XXVIII, 148; XXXV, 
338, XXXVIII, 373 (prose); XLII, 2545 XLVIII, 305; XLIX, 213; LII, 20 / Journal of III. 
State Hist. Soc., XXXI, 301 / Macintosh, So III F-S, 4 / MacKenzie, Bids Sea Sgs N Sc, 3 / 
MacKenzie, Quest Bid, 93 / Morris, F-S Fla, 366 / Minish Mss. / Narragansett Times, 1222 
'44 / N.T. Times Mgz, 10 9 '27 / Niles, Bids Lv Sgs Tgc Lgds, 4 / Perry, Carter Cnty, 198 / 
PTFLS, X, 138 / Randolph, Oz F-S, I, 41 / Randolph, Oz Mt Flk, 216 / Red, White and Blue 
Songster (N.Y., 1861), 212 / Sandburg, Am Sgbag, 60 / Scarborough, On Trail N F-S, 43 / 
Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mts, 126 / SharpC, Eng F-S So Aplchns, #z / SharpK, Eng F-S So 
Aplchns, I, 6 / Shearin and Combs, Ky Syllabus, 7 / Reed Smith, SC Bids, 97 / Summer 
School News (Summer School of the South), 7 31 '14 / Va FLS Btdl 9 dfc& 24, 6 12 / 
Wyman and Brockway, Lnsme Tunes, 82. Korson, Pa Sgs Lgds, 30. 

Local Titles: If I Take Off My Silken Stay, Lady Isabel and the Elfin Knight, Little 
Golden, Miss Mary's Parrot, My Pretty Colinn, Polly and William, Pretty Colendee, Pretty 
Collee, Pretty Nancy, Pretty Polly, Seven Sisters, Six Fair Maids, Six King's Daughters, 
Sweet Nellie, Sweet William, The Cage of Ivory and Gold, The False-Hearted Knight, The 
False Lover, The False Knight, The False Sir John, The King's Daughter, The Ocean Wave, 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study 33 

The Outlandish Knight, The Pretty Gold Leaf (Lee), The Pretty Golden Queen, The" Salt 
Water Sea, The Seven (Six) King's Daughters, The Seventh King's Daughter, Willie Came 
Over the Ocean, Wilson, Young Jimmie. 

Story Types: A: A knight, or other deceiver, convinces the seventh 
daughter to rob her family and elope with him. He leads her to the water 
where he has drowned her six sisters. When he requests her to remove her 
valuable robe (other objects may be added or substituted) before she dies, 
she makes him turn around that he may not see her naked. (Sometimes she 
asks him to clear brambles or give her an opportunity to pray.) He complies, 
and she pushes him in the stream to drown. After she returns home and puts 
the money back, a parrot questions her concerning her activities. By the 
promise of an elaborate cage, she convinces him not to tell on her. Thus, 
when the king asks the parrot what the fuss is, he replies a cat has been 
around his cage. 

Examples: Barry (A), Belden (C), Davis (A), SharpK (F). 

B : The same story as that of Type A is told, but the supernatural nature 
of the knight is still clear. 

Examples: Greenleaf and Mansfield (B) 

C: The usual story is told, but the parrot accuses the girl of the murder 
because of stanzas borrowed from Young Hunting (68). 
Examples: JAFL, XLIX, 213. 

D : The usual story is told, but the parrot fails to deceive the girl's father, 
and the old man reminds the daughter that he had said she would rue her 
going away. Examples: JAFL, XXII, 374. 

E : The usual story is told, but after the girl removes her cloak, the suitor 
drags her into the water first up to her ankles, then her knees, waist, and . 
eventually neck. She grabs the horse's tail and somehow (a stanza is for- 
gotten) the lover drowns. She escapes and returns home, where her mother 
and the parrot have the usual conversation about the cat. 
Examples: Scarborough, On Trail N F-S. 

Discussion: The story seems to be part of a large body of European tales. 
Child (I, 54) sets forth the hypothesis 

. . . that an independent European tradition existed of a half-human, half-demonaic 
being, who possessed an irresistible power of decoying away young maids, and was 
wont to kill them after he got them into his hands, but who at last found one who was 
more than his match, and lost his own lif e through her craft and courage. A modifica- 
tion of this story is afforded by the large class of Bluebeard tales. 



34 British Traditional JBattad in North America 

Although. Child rejects the idea (I, 53), the ballad may also be an off-shoot 
from the Judith-Holofernes story. 

The ballad is still known in all Europe, and in nineteenth century England 
there were many stall versions. Belden, Mo F S, 5, divides the song into 
three scenes, as they were presented in these stall prints: the seducer cajoling 
the girl, the waterside, the parrot. Parodies of the song are also not un- 
common. Barry, Brit Bids Me, 33 reports one from Maine containing the 
May Collin or Colvin name found in Child C, H, etc. and included in the 
printed Charley Fox's MinstrePs Companion, Philadelphia, 1861. 

Barry argues (Brit Bids Me, 34) that the song must have been an early 
arrival in America. The versions are invariable closer to Child C G than 
to A B, with the exception of Type E which is nearest, but not exactly 
like. Child B, In America, certain characteristics can be noted: I. The girl 
and the parrot often have the same names in the ballad (Polly), which tends 
to confuse the story. (Macintosh, III. State Hist. Journal, XXXI, 302, prints 
a text that has "my pretty golin colleen " and not a parrot bribed to 
silence. This is another and similar confusion, although the informant refused 
to admit a parrot has a thing to do with the song. See p. 300.) 2. The super- 
natural character of the lover has completely vanished. (Niles, Bids Lv Sgs 
Igc Lgds, 4 prints a version under the local title the Elfin Knight, although 
there is nothing in the text to indicate supernaturalism in the lover's char- 
acter.) See also Cox, W. Va. School Journal and Educator, XLIV, 269. 
Wimberly, American Speech, III, H4ff., discusses this ballad with respect 
to this point. 3. The girl is often a very vigorous person. She throws a rock 
at the drowning knight in SharpK, Eng F-S So Aflchns, B and threatens,, 
rather than cajoles, the parrot in the Niles version just cited. 4. Substitutes 
for the "naked girl" excuse are often given in the form of "clearing the 
briars 3 *, "saying prayers", etc. These reveal a change for what may well 
have been, in certain early American cases, puritanical reasons. The JAFL, 
XXIV, 334 version from Illinois-Missouri is notable in this respect, not only 
for the religious note in the request by the girl for a chance to pray, but also 
for her seeking the Lord's support in the murder she commits. 

Zielonko, Some American Variants of Child Ballads, p. 3ff. can be con- 
sulted for a detailed comparison of selected American texts. Brewster, Bids 
Sgs I-nd, 31, discusses the Indiana versions in some detail. He suggests that 
the name William, used for the seducer in some texts, may Ibe derived from 
villain. The slightly corrupt Duncan, No Hamilton Cnty, text is also worth 
study. Particularly unusual is the intrusion of the warning for the cock not 
to crow early (see Grey Cock, 248) which can be seen in the Minish Mss. This 
corruption was no doubt encouraged by the parrot stanzas. And the Flanders 



A Critical, Bibliographical Study 35 

text, that appears in the Narragansett limes , 1222 '44, is notable be- 
cause the incremental stanzas of Child C, D, and particularly E, in which 
the girl removes a series of garments, are retained. In this Rhode Island 
song, the maid takes off her gown, shoes, stockings, and smock at her lover's 
commands. 

The story occurs as a prose tale, as well. Isabel Carter, J4FL, XXXVIII, 
373, prints a mountain white version, "Old Notchy Road", from the south- 
ern Blue Ridge which employs the stripping and pushing motifs in relation 
to a pit and a habitual murderer. See also the folk songs The Jealous Lover 
and Pearl Bryan. 

Note should be taken of the French-Canadian version (Barbeau, F-S 
French Canada, p. 22) which is different in story from the English-American 
versions. However, it derives from France and was brought over to Quebec 
by Frenchmen. Here Jeanneton kicks the man in the stream as he pulls off 
her stocking and cuts a limb off a tree to keep him under. He repents as he 
dies. This story has had no effect on American tradition to my knowledge. 



7. EARL BRAND 

Note: References to secondary versions songs about a bold soldier and with a happy 
ending can be found under Erlinton, Child 8. 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 3 5 / Brewster, Bids Sgs Ind, 37 / Brown Coll / BFSSNE, I, 4 / 
Bull Tenn FLS, VIII, #3, 64 / Cox, F-S South, 1 8 / Cox, W* 7 a. School Journal and Educator, 
XLVI, 83 / Davis, Trd Bid Fa, 86 / Greenleaf and Mansfield, Bids Sea Sgs Newfdld, 7 / 
Henry, Beech MtF-S, 10 / Henry, F-S So Hgblds, 36 / Henry, Sgs Sng So Aplcbns, 45 / Hudson 
F-S Miss, 66 / Hudson, F-T Miss, 22 / Hudson, Spec Miss F-L,#.z / Hummel, Oz F-S / JAFL 
XXVIII, 152; XLII, 256; XLVIII, 307 / MacKenzie, Bids Sea Sgs N Sc, 9 / MacKenzie, 
Quest Bid, 2,6, 60 / Morris, Fla F-S, 373 / Lomax and Lomax, Our Sgng Cntry, 154 / Minish 
Mss. / MLN, XXV, #4, 104 / Perry, Carter Cnty, 191 / Randolph, Oz F-S, I, 48 / Randolph, 
Oz Mt Flk, 221 / Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mts, 114 / SharpC, Eng F-S So Aplcbns, #3 / 
SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplchns, 1, 14 / Shearin and Combs, Ky Syllabus, 7 / SFLQ, VIII, 136 / 
Va FLS Bull, #s 2, 46, 10. 

Local Titles: Fair Ellender, Lady Margaret, Lord Loving, Lord Robert, Lord William, 
Lord William and Lady Margaret, Rise Ye Up, Sweet William, Sweet William and Fair 
Eleanor, Sweet Willie, The Child of Ell, The Seven Brethren, The Seven Brothers, The Seven 
King's Sons, The Seven Sleepers. 

Story Types: A: A girl is carried off by her lover who, in some songs, 
spends the night with her first. Her father and seven brothers pursue them. 
The lover halts his flight and slays all eight. After the damage has been done, 
the girl tells him to hold his hand, and then, desperate and crushed, she 
continues on with him. Often a scene in which they stop to drink at a river 
and the fatal bleeding of the lover stains the water is included. The song 



36 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

ends at his mother's house where they both die, he of wounds, she of heart- 
break. Examples: Barry (A), Brewster (A), Davis (A), 
SharpK(A),FIg, VIII, 137. 

B : The usual story has a stanza (perhaps from Barbara Allen) inserted 
so that the mother dies as well as the lovers. 

Examples : Cox, W. Va. School Journal and Educator, 
XLVI,83; SharpK(B). 

C: The usual story is told as far as the fight. Then, on the death of her 
father, the girl turns against her lover and wishes him in the middle of the 
sea. Examples: Hudson, F-S Miss, 

D : This text is similar to that of Type C, except that the lover becomes 

harsh with the girl after the fight and tells her if she does not like what he 

has done she can get another suitor. He tells her he wishes that she were 

back in her mother's room and he somewhere else. This ending is very abrupt. 

Examples : Henry, Sgs Sng So Aplcbns. 

Discussion: The Type A ballads follow the story of Child B, Scott's The 
Douglas Tragedy, a song that may well be based on a real Selkirkshire event 
as far as its detail goes. (See Davis, Trd Sid Va, 86 and Child, I, 99.) The 
Douglas Tragedy contains the rose-briar ending, although this feature is 
lacking in a large percentage of the American versions. None of Davis' 
Virginia collection has this motif, though SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplchns, A, C 
contain it. Also, in the SharpK southern texts can be found the names Fair 
Ellender, Lord Thomas, in addition to the Barbara, Allen stanza (see Type B). 
These points indicate that Child 73 and 84 have both contacted this song. 

Other American story types derive from varying causes. The girl's turning 
against her lover in Type C seems to be a combination of forgetting and 
sentimentality, while both this and the Type D versions tend to substitute 
a more active and less powerful dramatic scene for the pathos of the Type A 
ending. In Type D the change in tone after the father's death may well have 
come from the loss of a few key phrases somewhere in oral transmission. 
Compare the very similar lines as they exist in a Type A story (JJFL, 
XXVIII, 153) also from North Carolina where they have a pathetic tone. 

In the American versions of the ballad the girl seldom, if ever, speaks be- 
fore her father is slain. Also, the Brewster, Bids Sgs 2nd, A text is worth 
noting because of its extreme beauty and the interesting condensation of the 
end. The lovers never reach home, and the rose-briar lines are compressed. 



A Critical, Bibliographical Study 37 

The A. C. Morris (SFLQ, VIII, 136) text differs from most American versions 
in that the hanging of the bugle about William's neck is repeated. (See 
Child B.) For a complete description of leading American texts see Zielonko, 
Some American Variants of Child Ballads, 21. 

The tale is not an uncommon one. Child's remarks (I, 88 ff.) concerning 
the Scandanavian counterpart Ribold and Guldborg are important"* in this 
respect. 

Reference should also be made to Child 8 (Erlinton) for the ballads called 
The Soldier's Wooing, etc. that are often printed as American secondary 
versions of Earl Brand or Erlinton. See Child 8 in this study. 

8. ERLINTON 

Note: There is no American text that can be for certain called a derivative of Erlinton. 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Af>, 377 / Belden, Mo F-S, 103 / Brewster, \B/<& Sgs 2nd, 40 / 
Boston Evening Transcript^ Notes and Queries^ 11 26 '21 / Brown Coll/ Bull TennFLS, II, 
#i, i / Chappell, F-S Rnke Alb, 88 / Cox, F-S South, 375 / Creighton, Sgs Bids N Sc, 2$ / 
Davis, Trd Bid Va^ 92 / Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 14 / Flanders, Garl GnMtSg, 55 / Flanders, Vt 
F-S Bids, 232 / Gardner & Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mich, 380 / Henry, *F-S So*Hghlds, 185 / 
JAFL, XXI, 575 XXIII, 447; XXX, 363 ; XLV, 1 14 / Pound, Am. Bids Sgs, 68 / Randolph, 
OzF-S, 303 / SharpC, Eng F-S So Aplcbns,#^i \ SharpK, EngF-S So\Aplchns, I, 333. 

Local Titles: I'll Tell You of a Soldier, The Poor Soldier, The Soldier, The Soldier's Wooing, 
The Valiant Soldier. 

Story Types: A: A soldier returns from war and courts a rich, fair lady 
against her father's wishes. The father and seven men attack them as they 
go to get married. The soldier fights bravely and is routing the assailants 
when the father offers to give up his daughter and a large sum of money. 
However, the girl refuses to let her lover stop the fight until the old man 
offers all his wealth. She reasons that the fortune will be hers anyway if her 
father is slain. The father capitulates and takes the soldier home as his heir, 
more out of fear than agreement. 

Examples: Belden; Randolph (A, B). 

Disctission: There are a number of secondary versions of this ballad in 
circulation under the various "soldier" titles. However, the mood of these 
songs has become gay and humorous from tragic. Note the cold-bloodedness 
of the lady who willingly endangers her father's life in order to get the best 
bargain. This scene originates in the broadside texts. See The Masterpiece 
of Love-Songs, in John Ashton's A Century of Ballads, 164 and the Rox- 
burgbe Ballads, VI, 229, cited by Barry, JAFL, XXIII, 447. The outline of 
the tale, the elopement, and the lady who holds the horses and watches does, 
nevertheless, ally the American texts with Erlinton, or possibly Earl Brand. 



3 8 British 'Traditional Ballad in North America 

See Gardner and dickering, Bids Sgs So Mich, 380; Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 
14; and Brewster, Bids Sgs Ind, 40. Also check Child (I, 88, 106) who finds 
it difficult to separate the British forms of the two traditional ballads. There 
is a similar "sailor" song in the English broadsides. See Roxburgh Ballads, 

VII, 559- 

The reason for my treating these songs as secondary of Erlinton rather 
than Earl Brand lies in the happy conclusion which in its sentimental form 
could only derive from the Erlinton ending. It should be noted, however, 
that there is no imprisonment of the girl or strict watch over her in the 
"soldier" songs as is the case in Child 8. 

These "soldier" texts offer an example of an American oral tradition that 
has sprung from corrupted British forms of an old ballad. It is not uncommon 
for such to be the case. See also The Brown Girl (295) and the majority of 
the Kniherine J 'affray (221) texts. 

10. THE TWA SISTERS 

Texts; Adventure, 9 10 '23, 191 / Barry, Brit Bids Me., 40 / Belden, Mo F-S, 1 6 / Botkin, 
Am Play-Party Sg, 59, 337 / Brewster, Bids Sgs Ind, 42 / Brown Coll / BFSSNJE, VI, 5 ; IX, 
4; X, 105 XI, 16; XII, 10 / Butt Tenn FLS, IV, #3, 74; VIII, #3, 71 / Chappell, F-S Rnke 
Alb) 13 / Child, 1, 137; II, 508 / Child Mss., XXI, 10 / Christian Science Monitor, 12 2 '37 / 
Cox, F-S South, 20 / Cox, Trd Bid WFa,6t Cox, W. Va. School Journal and Educator, XLIV, 
428, 441 / Davis, Trd Bid Pa, 93 / Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 17 / Flanders, New Gn Mt Sgstr, 3 / 
Garrison, Searcy Cnty, 19 / Gray, Sgs Bids Me L'jks, 75 / Gardner and Chickering, Bids Sgs 
So Mich, 32 / Greenleaf and Mansfield, Bids Sea Sgs Newfdld, 9 / Haun, Cocke Cnty, 106 / 
Henry, F-S So Hghlds, 39 / Hudson, F-S Miss, 68 / Hudson, F-T Miss, 25 / Hudson, Spec 
Miss F-L,#i I Hummel, Oz F-S / JAFL, XVIII, 130; XIX, 233; XXX, 286; XLII, 238; 
XLIV, 295 ; XLV, i ; XLVIII, 306 / Kincaid, Fav Mt Bids, 22 / Morris, F-S Fla, 375 / Neal, 
Brown Cnty, 60 / N.T. Times Mgz, 109 '27 / Niles, More Sgs Hill-Flk, 8 / Niles, Anglo-Am 
Bid Stdy Bk,$6/ Perry, Carter Cnty, 98 / Pouncl, Am Bids Sgs, 1 1 / Pound, Nebr Syllabus, I r / 
PTFLS, X, 141 / Raine, Land Sddle Bags, 118 / Randolph, OzF-S, I, 50 / Randolph, Oz Mt 
Flk, 2ii / Richardson, Am Mt Sgs, 27 / Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mts, 164 / SharpC, EngF-S 
So Aplchns,-^.! SharpK, EngF-S So Aplchns, I, 26 / Smith and Rufty, Am Anth Old Wrld 
Bids, 2 / SFLQ, VIII, 138 / Stout, F-L la, i / Thomas, Blue Ridge Cntry, 152 / Thomas, 
Devil's Ditties, 70 / Thomas, Sngin Gathrn, 76 / Thompson, Bdy Bts Brtchs, 393 / Va FLS 

Bull,#S2%, 12. 

Local Titles: All Bow Down, Bow Ye Down, I'll Be True to My Love, Lord of the Old 
Country, Sister Kate, The Miller and the Mayor's Daughter, The Miller's Two Daughters, 
The Old Farmer in the Countree, The Old Lord by the Northern Sea, The Old Man of (in) the 
North (Old) Countree, There Was an Old Farmer, There Was an Old Jaynor, (There Was an) 
The Old Woman (Who) Lived on the Seashore, There Was an Old Woman Lived in the West, 
The Swim Sworn Bonny, The Two (Three) (Little) Sisters, The Two Young Daughters, West 
Countree. 

Story Types.\K: A girl, jealous that a gentleman has courted her younger 
sister, invites the latter on a walk and pushes her in the water to drown. A 



A Critical , Bibliographical Study 39 

miller robs the struggling girl, rather than rescuing her, and is punished by 
death for his crime. Capital punishment for the elder girl may or may not be. 
mentioned. 

Examples: Barry (A), Belden (C), Davis (A), SharpK (B). 

B : Two princesses are playing by the water. The elder pushes the younger 
in. A miller finds the dead girl and makes a musical instrument from her 
body. The instrument reveals the murderer. 

Examples: Barry (E), Davis (K), SharpK (K). 

C: The usual story is started, but the musical instrument is made from 
the younger sister's body by the elder sister, and the instrument then names 
the murderer. This version has three-quarters of each stanza as refrain. 
Examples: JAFL, XLV, 7. 

D: A combination of Types A and B is sometimes found in which the 
instrument is made from the body, and both the miller and the elder girl are 
executed. Examples : SharpK (A). 

E : The usual story is started, but the drowned girl appears to make a 
harp of herself and reveal her murderer. 

Examples: Henry, F-S So Hgblds (C). 

F : The usual story is told, but the miller is left out. The girl in the water 
may plead with her sister to pull her from the "sea-sand" (quicksand ?) and 
be refused. Examples: Brewster (B, C), Neal. 

' G: An amazing version found in Newfoundland tells of the younger sister's 
shoving the elder sister in the water, although the younger has received 
more attention from the suitor. The body is fished out with a fishing pan, 
the face covered with lace and the hair full of golden lumps. A ghost tells 
the lover how his sweetheart was killed. 

Examples: Greenleaf-Mansfield. 

H: The usual story is told, except the elder sister bribes the miller to push 
the girl back into the water. Only the miller's hanging is mentioned. 
Examples: Randolph, OzF-S (D). 

I: The story is like that of Type A, except the miller is the father of the 
two girls and pushes his own daughter into the water. 
Examples: Cox, F-S South (A). 



40 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

J : The usual story is told, but the miller is the lover of the girls and seems 
to rescue the younger one after she has been pushed in. 
Examples: JAFL, XVIII, 131. 

K: A story similar to Type J is told, but after the rescue all go to church 
and "now they're (which two is not clear) married I suppose". 

Examples: Thompson. 

L: The story is like that of Type J, except that a prince courts the girls. 
The miller rescues the elder sister. She falls in love with him, and they marry. 

Examples: Haun. 

M: The usual story is told. However, the "fisherman", who has no previous 
connection with the girls, seems to rescue the drowning maid. 
Examples: Cox, Trd Bids W 7 a (B); Perry. 

N: Two little girls float down a stream in a boat. Charles Miller comes out 
with his hook and pulls one out by the hair and makes a fiddle of her body. 
Examples: FSSN, XII, 10. 

Discussion: This song still has a current tradition in Britain (Child, I, 118) 
and has more American story variations than any other ballad. In this 
respect it is an excellent subject for study. A monograph is reportedly being 
prepared on the American texts and their European affiliations, and Taylor 
(J4FL, XLII, 238 ff.) discusses the American, English, and Scottish versions 
of the ballad. The latter article concludes that the American texts follow the 
English tradition (see p. 243) exclusively. The beaver hat, the failure to call 
the hair yellow, and the introductory stanza are all English traits. For the 
Scottish traits (not common to America) see pp. 238 40. 

The extremely wide variation of story types in America can probably be 
traced to forgetting of details combined with attempts to rationalize either 
the presence or absence of the "harp" motif with the rest of the narrative. 
Certainly there has been no printed text that has frozen the story, as is the 
case in other songs. Note should be made, in connection with this point, of 
the Gardner and Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mich, B version ("Peter and Paul 
went down the lane") which is scarcely recognizable as the same song. 

Perversions of the original such as my Types C, E, and G (cf . Child B and 
my Type C in connection with G) are the results of small changes in some 
detail of the narrative. However, they reveal the sort of change that might 
easily create a new story if enough momentum were gained. Type I has been. 



A Critical, Bibliographical Study 41 

melodramatized through similar small alterations of detail, probably with 
the aid of forgetting. Types F and M are undoubtedly the results of omission 
of the ending in one of the other classes, though check the Cox, Trd Bids W 
Va^ B text in which the miller is hung for pulling the girl to shore. Types J, 
K, and L have all been sentimentalized. J and K are certainly related to 
Child M, while K and L may echo the marriage feast that is present in the 
Norse forms of the story. Types D and H refer to texts that are well-known, 
D combining Types A and B, while H is paralleled by Child S. (Under Type J, 
see Garrison, Searcy Cnty, 20 who quotes his informant as saying "that they 
(some forgotten lines) told how the miller and the cruel sister, who had to- 
gether plotted the younger girl's drowning in an attempt to get possession 
of property that had been left to her by her sweetheart, were hanged".) 
Type N resembles Type B in the use of the instrument motif, but seems 
quite corrupt at the start. Barry BFSSNE, XII, 10 theorizes on this text. 

In general, the miller is present in American versions, although the grue- 
some musical instrument portion is lacking. (See Child Y and the whole Rff. 
group.) The elimination of such a supernatural motif is in keeping with the 
usual American practice, and the New World mood is on the whole lighter 
than the Old. Flanders, New Gn Mt Sgstr, 4 points out that texts where the 
girl gets capital punishment are less likely to degenerate into comedy than 
those where the miller is hung. 

The refrains of the ballad have been given a great deal of attention. For 
discussions of them see Barry, BFSSNE> III, ii; Belden, Mo F-S, 16; 
Henry, F-S So HgUds, 38 ; JAFL, XLV, 2 ("bow down" refrain) ; and Taylor, 
JAFL, XLII, 238. The usual American refrains are the "juniper, gentian, 
and rosemary" corruption, or a "bow down, etc. I'll be true to my love, if 
my love'll be true to me" variation. Nonsense lines ("sing i dum", "hey ho, 
my Nannie") are also found, and Randolph prints a refrain "bonnery-0" 
which seems to come from "Binnorie, 0, Binnorie" (Child C). See also 
BFSSNE, IX, 4 and X, 10 and the Morris, F-S Fla, texts. The latter songs 
feature the word "rolling" in various combinations. 

Botkin in his Am Play Party Sg, 59ff. discusses the refrain of the song 
and its use in the dance-game versions, and Thomas, Sngin Gatbrn, 79 de- 
scribes the ballad as a Kentucky dance. 

The song is often found utilizing the "bowed her head and swam" cliche 
so common to Child 286. 

For a detailed discussion of a number of American texts, see Zielonko, 
Some American Variants of Child Ballads, p. 30. Refer also to Barry* 
HFSSNE, III, 2 and XII, 10 for detailed treatments of the tradition of the 
song, especially in connection with Type N. 



^2 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

The ballad has been discussed in relation to the folk-motif of "the singing 
bones 5 '. See Brewster, Bids Sgs Ind, 4243 for a complete bibliography 
along this line. He also includes many Scandanavian references. 

ii. THE CRUEL BROTHER 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 431 (trace) / Brown Coll / Haun, Cocke Cnty, 87 / JAFL, 
XXVIII, 300 / Pound, Am Bids Sgs, 21 / SharpC, Eng F-S So Aplchns, #20 / SharpK, Eng 
F-S So Aplcbns, I, 36. 

Local Titles: The Cruel Brother, The Stabbed Sister. 

Story Types: A: Three landlords woo a girl. The third wins her. He asks 
her father and mother for permission to marry her, but forgets the brother. 
As a result, the brother, John, stabs her to death as she mounts her horse 
to go to the wedding. The ending, like that of Edward, is a testament in 
which John is cursed. 

Examples : Haun, SharpK (A). 

B: The story is similar to that of Type A, except that the brother's per- 
mission seems to be obtained, and the murder to be instigated by the 
brother's wife. Examples : Pound. 

Discussion: Both story types appear in Child (See A, B, etc.), but as is 
usually the case the American texts are shorter. Sharp (SharpK, Eng F-S 
So Aplchns, I, 412) points out that his North Carolina version originated in 
the west of England. 

For a treatment of the intrafamily murder ballads and the place of the 
brother in the house, see Flanders, New Gn Mt Sgstr, 94. The suggestion of 
incest (Type B) may well be behind this song, The Two Brothers (49), and 
a few other Child stories. 

The common American refrain, "rose smells sweet and gay", is probably 
a derivative of one of the British "rose" burdens (See Child A, F, I K). 

12. LORD RANDAL 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 46 / Belden, Mo F-S, 24 / Brewster, Bids Sgs Ind, 5 1 / Brown 
ColljBFSSNE, I,$IBullUSC#i62,#zlChzpvdl,F-S RnkeAlb, 14.7 Child, I, 163 / Cox, 
F-S South, 23 / Cox, Trd Bid WVa^\W7a School Journal and Educator, XLV, 266 / Davis, 
Trd Bid Fa, 105 / Decennial Publication, Univ. of Chicago, 1903, VII, 140 / Eddy, Bids Sgs 
Ohio, 21 / Flanders, Ft F-S Bids, 197 j Focus, III, 399; IV, 31, 100 / Gardner and Chickering, 
Bids Sgs So Mich, 35 / Garrison, Searcy Cnty, 30 / Harper's Mgz (May, 1915), 908 / Haun, 
Cocke Cnty, j% / Henry, F~S So Hghlds, 45 / Hudson, F-S Miss, 69 / Hudson, Spec Miss F-L, 
#4 / Hummel, OzF-S / JAFL, XIII, 1155 XVI, 258; XVIII, 195, 303, 376; XXIV, 3455 
XXIX, t57; XXX, 289; XXXV, 339; XXXIX, 8i; XLII, 257; XLIV, 302 / Kolb, Treasry 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study 4.3 

F-S, 14 / Linscott, F-S Old NE, 191 / Macintosh, F-S So III, 26 / Mason, Cannon Cnty, 13 / 
McGill, F-S Ky Mts, 19 / MLN, XVII, 12 / MLR, XIV, 21 1 / AW Pbil, XXIX, 105 / Morm, 
F-S Fla, 379 / Musical Quarterly ', II, 127 / Narragansett Times, 2 2 '45 / Niles, .B&& Lv Sgs 
Tgc Lgds, 14 / Niles, Anglo-Am Bid Stdy Bk, 6 / Pound, Am Bids Sgs, 3 / Pound, Nebr Syllabus, 
9 / Outlook, LXIII, 121 / Randolph, Oz F-S, I, 63 / Randolph, Oz Mt Flk, 215 / Scarborough, 
Sgctchr So Mts, 178 / Sewanee Review, XIX, 3177 SharpC, EngF-S So Aplcbns, #6 / Sharp K, 
Eng F-S So Aplcbns, I, 38 / Shoemaker, Mt Mnstly, 144 / Shoemaker, No Pa Mnstly, 139 / 
Shearin and Combs, Ky Syllabus, 7 / Reed Smith, SC Bids, 101 / 7 a FLS uH,^pz 5, 7 i r. 
L0C0Z Titas: A Rope and Gallows, Billy Randall, Dear Willie, Durango, Fair Nelson My 
Son, Henry My Son, Jimmie Randall (Randolph, etc.), John Elzie, Johnny Randall (Rilla, 
Reeler, Ramsay, Riller, Reynolds, Ramble, Rillus, Randolph, etc.), Johnnie Randolph My 
Son, John Willow My Son, Lord Lantoun, Lord Ronald My Son, McDonald, Mother Make 
My Bed Soon, Poor Anzo, Randall (Ransel, etc.) My Son, Sweet William, Terence, The Cup 
of Cold Poison, Three Cups of Cold Poison, The Jealous Lover, The Poisoned Child, Tyranty 
(many spellings), Tyranty My Son, Uriar My Son, Where Have You Been to My Dear Son ?, 
Willy Ransome, Wooing and Death of John Randal. 

Story Types: A: A man, through a dialogue with his mother, tells that he 
has spent the night with his sweetheart, eaten a poisoned supper, and is now 
sick. His dogs usually are revealed to have died from the leavings. In his 
last "bequests" the sweetheart is cursed and shown to be the murderer. 
Examples: Belden (C); Cox, F-S South (A); 
Davis (A); Reed Smith (A). 

B : The story is the same as that of Type A, except that the hero forgives 
his sweetheart and seems to remain faithful to her although he knows she has 
poisoned him. Examples : Davis (L). 

C : Some versions name other persons than the sweetheart as the murderer. 
Henry (Randal's brother), grandmother, sister, stepmother, wife, grandpa, 
and even Randal himself has this role. 

Examples: Barry (K, 0); Cox, F-S South (E); 

Davis, p. 1189; Eddy (B, C); Gardner and dickering; 

JAFL, XVIII, 201 ff.; Linscott. 

D: There is a Massachusetts version in which Randal goes fishing and 
catches an eel which he cooks and eats by mistake. The dialogue consists of 
his mother's discovery of the fatal error. 

Examples: Barry (N). - 

E : The same story as that of Type A, except the sister and the sweetheart 
have conspired to kill Randal. 

Examples: Shoemaker, Mt. Mnstly, 



44 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

Discussion: This ballad has extremely long and varied European, British,, 
and American traditions (See Child, 1, 151 ff. and Barry, Brit Bids Me, 6^ii.). 
It is said to be the most popular purely traditional song in America, for 
there have been no pocket songster versions to aid its spread as has been the 
case of Barbara Allen and Lord Thomas and Fair Annet (See Barry, Brit 
Bids Me, 65). In the texts, there are any number of detail variations, but 
the story itself has remained quite constant. 

This song has been the subject of a large amount of study and research, 
most of it connected with the names given the hero (See Zielonko, Some 
American Variants of Child Ballads, 47 and Reed Smith, SC Bids, 56). The 
alliance of the Randolph family of Virginia and West Virginia with the story 
has been noted by Davis, Trd Bid Fa, 105, although Vance Randolph, Oz 
F-S I, 63 points out that the ballad was aligned with the Randolphs in the 
Old World as well. Check, too, Scott, Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border (1902 
ed.), Ill, 51.) Scott also indicates in the same work the similarity of the 
story to that of King John's death. See the Child C "King Henry" type, 
retained in Cox, F-S South, E. 

The poison used by the true-love is generally considered to be snakes,, 
served as eels or fish (Child, I, 155), although frequently she may serve 
simply poison or some such corruption as "ale" (eel), or even the cold cakes 
and coffee of Cox, F-S South, H. (See JAFL, XVI, 259.) Toads and reptiles 
of other sorts are also used, and Barry, Brit Bids Me, 61 points out that 
newts were, by many people, considered poisonous when eaten. 

The death wished for the true-love is by "hell-fire and brimstone" (Cox, 
of. cit., A) in most American versions, while the death of the hawks and 
dogs is often omitted. 

The story groups do not vary in general character, although they change 
in mood and motive. The Type C ballads in which the grandmother is the 
villain are probably the results of influence by the Scottish Croodlin Doo 
texts (Barry, Br it Bids Me, 66) and in New England frequently refer to the 
man as Tyranti. Barry, op. cit., 71 2 deftly explains this grandmother in- 
trusion into the American texts. He believes the Child J-0 series tells a 
story in which a stepmother poisons a boy with small fish, and the dying 
youth is questioned by the ghost of his natural mother. This incident be- 
came rationalized as people ceased to believe in ghosts, and the grand- 
mother and the natural mother herself were substituted into the narrative. 
Once this had happened, other members of the family might have slipped in. 
Type D he feels was "communally recreated" from Type C. 

Reed Smith in his chapter "The Road Downhill" in SC Bids, 64 prints a 
Poor Anzo version that is unbelievably corrupt and that should be studied 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study AC 

carefully as the extreme of transmission degeneration. Besides the new 
name of the hero, the mother's questions mean little: "What did you leave 
your father (etc.) for, Anzo, my son ?" His reply that he has this or that is 
equally pointless. When asked why he left his sweetheart Anzo says, "Here 
is a red hot iron will broil a bone". Finally the mother wants to know what 
he'll have for supper, and his reply, "Make me a little breely broth soup" 
is a consistent close. No mention is made of Anzo's having been poisoned. 

Other deviations and corruptions of note are: i. Shoemaker, Mt Mnstly, 
145 prints a footnote indicating that the Type E version from Pennsylvania 
has a funeral and a bequest for an unborn child. 2. The Flanders, Ft F-S 
Bids, 197 text has the lad give nothing at all to his mother and "hell, etc." 
to the sweetheart, which might possibly be a transfer of the Edward theme 
of maternal instigation through the similarity of endings. However, it is just 
as likely not. 3. Niles, Bins Lv Sgs Tgc Lgds, 14 prints a version that has the 
final request of "Randal" that he be laid at his grandfather's son (probably 
uncle here) ? s side. 

Taylor, Mod Phil, XXIX, 105 points out that the hunting in the green- 
wood and the meeting the true-love are incompatible and suggests the 
former is a contamination that occurred in Britain, possibly from The King's 
Dochter Lady Jean. This contamination then has become deeply rooted in 12. 

For remarks on the relationship of this ballad to Billy Boy see Linscott, 
F-S Old NE, 1 66 and Sharp, 100 English Folk-Songs, p. xxxiv. For an analysis 
of a South Atlantic States "poor buckra" text see C. E. Means, Outlook, 
Sept. 1899, 121. Jane Zielonko, Some American Variants of Child Ballads, 
41 ff . discusses a number of American texts in great detail. 



13, EDWARD 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 433 (trace) / Brown Coll / CFLQ, V, 300 / Cox, Trd Bid W 
Fa, ii / Davis, Trd Bid Fa, 120 / Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 23 / Focus, III, 398, 399 / Gordon, 
F-S Am, 567 Harm, Cocke Cnty, 89 / Hudson, F-S Miss, 70 / Hudson, Spec Miss F-L, #5 / 
Hummel, Oz F-S / JAFL, XXXIX, 93 / Morris, F-S Fla, 381 / Niles, Anglo-Am Stdy Bk, 10 / 
N.T. Times Mgz, 10 9 '27 / Owens, SW Sings, n. p. (2 texts)/ Owens, Studies Tex F-S, i6/ 
Pound, Am Bids Sgs, 23 / Randolph, Oz F-S, I, 67 / Randolph, OzMtFlk, 207; Scarborough, 
Sgctcbr So Mts, 180 / Sewanee Review, XIX, 313 / SharpC, EngF-S SoAplcbns, #7 / SharpK, 
Eng F-S So Aplcbns, I, 47 / Shearin and Combs, Ky Syllabus, 7 / SFLQ, IV, 13 / Taylor, 
Edward and Sven I Rosengard, 80 / Ft. Historical Society, Proceedings, N.S., VII, 1939, 102 / 
Fa FLS Bull, #s 2-4, 6, 9- 10. 

Local Titles: Blood on the Lily-White Shirt, Edward, How Come (What Is) That Blood 
on Your Shirt Sleeve?, How Come That Red Blood on Your Coat?, Ronald, The Cruel 
Brother, The Little Yellow Dog, The Murdered Brother, What Blood on the Point of Your 
Knife ?, What Is That on the End of Your Sword ?, What Is That on Your Sword So Red ? 



46 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

Story Types: A: A man has committed fratricide (sometimes patricide or 

killed his brother-in-law), and his mother by steady questioning eventually 

gets from him the facts of the crime along with a statement that he is fleeing 

the land never to return. No implication of the mother herself is indicated. 

Examples: CFLQ, V, 300; Davis (A); Scarborough (A). 

B: In the version that is half The Twa Brothers and half Edward (see 
Type E of Child 49), the mother is implicated. However, the implication 
makes little sense in this "new" story, as we are told earlier that the killing 
is the result of spontaneous anger and frustration during the fight. 
Examples : Ft. Historical Society, Proceedings. 

Discussion: Unlike Child A, B the American texts (excepting Type B) do 
not implicate the mother in the crime. This characteristic and the New 
World emphasis on fratricide (Child A) rather than patricide (Child B) 
reveals a close relationship of the American tradition with what Taylor (see 
Edward and Sven I Rosengard, 1931) feels is the original form of the song. 
Most of the original story has been lost, however, in Britain, America, and 
Scandanavia. Nevertheless, because the ballad is continually associating 
itself with incest songs (see Child 49 and 51) and because incest is a theme 
that might well vanish from such a story, an intraf rfmily fixation is probably 
the cause of the crime in the older, now lost, texts. See WF, VIII, 314 19. 
See Zielonko, Some American Variants of Child Ballads, 52 for a discussion 
of a few American texts and Taylor, op. cit., for a definitive treatment of the 
whole tradition of the song. Taylor includes a large number of American, 
British and, translated Scandanavian variants, pp. 59 in. 

Helen H. Flanders (Vt. Historical Society, Proceedings, N. S. VII, 102} 
prints a song under the title Edward (Child 13). This text is actually a 
version of The <Iwa Brothers which has been corrupted by Edward. Child, I, 
167 discusses the habits of Edward with respect to other songs. 

Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 24 notes that this song was frequently used as a 
children's game in nineteenth century Missouri. 

One of the oddest changes in the American forms of the song occurs in the 
SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplchns, E text where the name Edward has become 
attached to the murdered brother. See footnote, I, 49* 

14. BABYLON 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 72 / Brown Coll / BFSSNE, VII, 6 / Bull Tenn FLS, VIII,, 
#3, 69 / Child, III, 5 / Davis, FS Va / Greenleaf and Mansfield, Bids Sea Sgs Newfdld, 10* 
Local Titles: Baby Lon, Hecky-Hi Si-Bernio, The Bonny Banks of the Virgie 0, 



A Critical, Bibliographical Study 47 

Story Types: A: Three girls go out to walk or to "pull flowers", and on 
their way they meet a robber. He kills two of them, and, when the third 
wishes her brothers were there or says her brother is near-by, he questions 
her and finds out he has slain two of his sisters. After the discovery, he kills 
himself. Examples: Butt lenn FLS, VIII, #3, 70; 

Geenleaf and Mansfield. 

B : The same situation occurs. The man seizes the eldest of the three girls 
and asks her to be "young Robey's wife". When she refuses, he stabs her to 
death. After he has done the same to the second girl, the third kills him. 
Examples: BFSSNE, VII, 6. 

Discussion: This ballad is quite rare in America. The Type A versions 
follow the Child A story, although the Barry text from Maine (a fragment) 
seems to belong to Child F and may have been preserved through the singing 
of tinkers and gypsies. Also, the Newfoundland text, besides condensing 
twelve stanzas into four so that the number of girls is not clear, mentions 
two brothers (Child F) instead of one. In Tennessee, the brother's name is 
Baby Lon, and the "pulling flowers" for a talisman is retained at the start 
(see Child A). 

The Type B ballad is unique to America and is another example of the- 
self-sufficient woman entering the folk song. See Child 14 F and # 4 (SharpK, 
Eng F~S So Aplcbns, B). 

The refrains vary. Two that give the title to the song (see Child A) are the 
Newfoundland "too ra lee and a lonely 0-On the bonny, bonny banks of 
Virgie, 0" and the New York (BFSSNE) "hecky-hi Si Bernio-On the 
bonny, bonny banks of Bernio". 

MacKenzie (J4FL, XXV, 184) prints a song called Donald Munro in 
which a father unknowingly kills his sons and which MacKenzie feels is 
"vaguely reminiscent" of Babylon. 

17. HIND HORN 

Tezts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 73 / Greenleaf and Mansfeild, Bids Sea Sgs Newfdld, 12. 
Local Titles: The Beggarman, The Old Beggar Man. 

Story Types: A: Horn gives his love a watch and in return is given a ring 
that will shine when she is true and turn pale when she is in love with an- 
other. He sets sail for foreign shores. On arriving abroad, he notices the 
ring to be pale, and so he returns home at once. He meets a beggar who tells 
him his sweetheart is to be married on the morrow. Then he borrows the- 



48 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

beggar's clothes and listens to instructions on how to act in his disguise. 
(He can beg from Peter or Paul, but need not take anything from anybody 
except his bride.) After gaining admittance to the wedding feast, he gets a 
glass of wine from the bride and slips the ring into it. She, of course, wants 
to know where he got it. He tells her the truth, and she swears to be his fore- 
vermore, even though he is a beggar. They flee, and he reveals his disguise. 
Examples: Barry (A), Greenleaf and Mansfield. 

B : (from recollection, but no text) The story follows the narrative outline 

of Type A, but Horn takes the beggar with him and sends him on errands 

Horn does not wish to handle himself. Horn finds his lady married and kills 

her husband in a duel. She goes abroad to forget her sorrows and dies there* 

Examples: Barry, p. 79 (no text). 

Discussion: The Type A texts represent an unusual form of Child G, a 
ballad of Scottish origin that is well-known in Ireland. Type B is noted with- 
out text in Barry, Brit Bids Me, 79 as an extended version recalled by a sea- 
captain as having been sung by his men. If his memory is reliable, there 
seems to be both corruption from an outside source and degeneration present. 
This man also claims to have heard another, and now lost, ballad based on a 
different portion of the Horn legend and called The Beggar Man. See Barry, 
op. *., 479. 

Note Walter R. Nelles (JAFL, XXII, 42 ff.) for a critical study of the 
Hind Horn story in balladry. This article also deals with Kitcbie-Boy (252) 
on p. 59ff. Child and Nelles both consider the latter to be an offshoot of the 
Horn legend. Check the chart on p. 59. 

18. SIR LIONEL 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bid Me, 434 (trace) / Belden, Mo F-S, 29 / Boletin Latino Americano de 
Mitsica, V, 278 / Davis, Trd Bid Va, 125 / Focus, IV, 48 / JAFL, XIX, 235 ; XXV, 175 ; XXX, 
291 5 LIV, 84 / Lorn ax and Lomax, Our Sngng Cntry, 149 / McGill, F-S Ky Mts, 79 / MLR, 
XI, 396 / Randolph, Oz F-S, I, 72 / Elizabeth M. Roberts, The Great Meadow (N.Y., 1930), 
151, 281, 298 / Scarborough, On frail N F-S, 51 / Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mts, 191 / Sharp 
C, EngF-S So Aplcbns, #8 / SharpK, EngF-S So Aplcbns, I, 55 / Smith and Rufty, Am Anth 
Old WrU Bids, 4 / Va FLS Bull, #s 3-5, 9. 

Local Titles: (Old) Bangum and the Boar, Bingham, Brangywell, Old Bang* em, Ole 
Bangum. 

Story Types: A: Bangum and his lady are in a forest. Bangum mentions 
a man-eating hog known to the vicinity and sometimes blows his horn to 
attract the beast. The boar comes rushing out, and Bangum slays him with 
a knife, usually wooden. The mood of the adventure is mock serious. Some 



A Critical ', Bibliographical Study 49 

versions do not mention the lady; some have the boar kill a number of 
Bangum's retinue; others have the boar run away after a long battle; and 
still others tell of a cave in which lie the bones of many slain men. In a 
number of these texts the winning or losing of "shoes" is mentioned by 
Bangum. 

Examples: Davis (A); Roberts, p. 281; Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mis. 

B : Bangum rides into a wood and meets a maid. He proposes to her, but 
she refuses him. He then tells her of a man-eating boar in the forest and sets 
out to kill it. After a successful fight, he returns to the girl. She accepts a 
second proposal. Examples: Lomax and Lomax. 

Discussion: All the American texts show a great deal of variation from 
the Child versions of the story. In the history of Sir Lionel one can see the 
complete degeneration of a romance into a burlesqued backwoods song. The 
original form of the story was probably Sir E glamour of Artois (See Child, I, 
209), and the British ballads retain much of the mood of this and other like 
works. The composite story of the British texts as given by Davis, Trd Bid 
Va, 125 from Child, I, 208 appears in the introductory description of varia- 
tion at the beginning of this work. 

The American versions (see Zielonko, Some American Variants of Child 
Ballads, 57ff.) reduce the story to little more than a fight with a boar, in 
Type A with mere mention of the lady. The whole mood is changed. The 
pageantry is gone. The details of the old tale are forgotten. And the song 
that survives is, at most dignified, mock serious in tone. Perhaps the change 
of the refrain best illustrates this, the typical Child A lines "blow thy horne 
good hunter as I am a gentle hunter" becoming "cubbi ki, cuddle dum, 
killi quo quam", etc. Similar refrains are paralleled in English versions 
collected since Child's day, however. Check JAFL, XXX, 292. 

It is notable that the Type B text retains a great deal more of the original 
story, if not any more of the original spirit, than do those of Type A. In 
addition, Barry, Brit Bids Me, 134 notes that a Maine sea-captain recognized 
thirteen stanzas of Child A. 

Kenneth W. Porter (JAFL, LIV, 84) states that "wooden knife" is a cor- 
ruption of the "wood-knife" used by huntsmen to carve game, etc. The 
misinterpretation of course came as the implement passed from use. 

Belden, Mo F-S, 29 suggests that there may be a broadside original for the 
Missouri (at least) texts, but he has no proof. 

For a treatment of the influence of A Frog Went a-Courtin' on Sir Lionel 
in America read Zielonko, op. cit., p. 5yff. 



O British traditional Ballad in North America 

19. KING ORFEO 

Reed Smith lists this ballad among the Child ballads surviving in America 
in SFLQ, I, #2, 9 ii. See Davis, FS 7 a. 



20. THE CRUEL MOTHER 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, So / Boletin Latino Americano de Musica, V, 279 / BFSSNE, 
VIII, 7 / Creighton, Sgs Bids N Sc, 3 / Cox, F-S South, 29 / Cox, W Va School Journal and 
Educator, XLVI, 64 / Davis, ?rd Bid Va, 133 / Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 24 / Greenleaf and 
Mansfield, Bids Sea Sgs Newfdld, 15 / Henry, F-S So Hghlds, 47 / Jones, F-L Mich, 5 / JAFL, 
XXV 183 ; XXXII, 503 / JFSS, II, 109 / Kennedy, Cultural Effects, 320 / MacKenzie, Bids 
Sea Sgs NSc, 12 / MacKenzie, Quest Bid, 104 / McGill, .F-S Ky Mts, 83 / Morris, F-S Fla, 384 / 
NTFLO, IV, #i, 36/Niles, Bids Crls Tgc Lgds, 18 / Randolph, Oz F-S, I, 73 / Randolph, The 
Ozarks, 185 / Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mts, 169 / SharpC, Eng F-S SoAplchns,^ / SharpK, 
EngF-S So Aplchns, I, 57 / Shearin and Combs, Ky Syllabus, 7 / SFLQ, VIII, 139 / Smith 
and Rufty, Am Anth Old Wrld Bids, 6 / Thompson, Bdy Bts Brtchs, 447 / Va FLS Bull, 
#s 3 5. Korson, Pa Sgs Lgds, 38. 

Local Titles: Down by the Greenwood Side (Shady), Fair Flowers of Helio, Greenwood 
Side, Greenwood Society, The Cruel Mother, The Greenwood Siding, The Green Woods of 
Siboney-O, The Lady of York, The Three Little Babes, There Was a Lady Lived in York. 

Story Types: A: "Leaning her back against a thorn", a woman bears her 
father's clerk two (or more) illegitimate children. These babies she murders 
with a pen-knife, buries, and deserts. Later, she sees some children playing 
ball. She tells them that if they were hers she would treat them in fine style. 
However, they inform her that they are the children she bore and murdered 
and usually tell her she is fated to dwell in Hell. 

Examples: Barry (A); Cox, F-S South (A); Davis (A). 

B : Sometimes an additional group of stanzas is found on a Type A version 
in which the mother is told the penance she must do for her crime. She must 
spend twenty-one years ringing a bell and existing in various bestial forms. 
In some texts the mother expresses a preference for such a fate over that 
of going to Hell. 

Examples: Creighton; MacKenzie, Bids Sea Sgs N Sc; Thompson. 

Discussion: The full story of this song frequently appears in American 
texts, although there are many that omit the antecedent action which 
reveals who the girl's lover is and the details of the birth and crime. 
Those that are wholly dialogue are clear enough if the original story is known. 
Type A stories are similar to the Child A H texts, while Type B versions 
follow Child I-L. 



A Critical ', Bibliographical Study 51 

There is a great deal of folk superstition included in the various American 
texts of the ballad. The binding of the children's feet to keep the ghosts from 
walking is discussed in L. C. Wimberly's Folk-Lore in the English and 
Scottish Ballads, 254. (See Child H; Cox, F-S South, B; SharpK, F; and 
SFLQ, XIII, 139 for examples). Many versions contain a c *MacBethian" 
attempt to wash the blood from the knife after the crime, and there is an 
attempt to throw the knife away which results in its coming nearer and 
nearer in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia. (See Creighton and MacKenzie, 
Bids Sea Sgs N Sc.) The idea that the mother can gain redemption by being 
a fish, a beast, and a belltoller, etc. for seven years has come into this song 
from The Maid and the f aimer (Child 21). See Child, I, 218 and my Type B. 

Zielonko, Some American Variants of Child Ballads, goff. discusses the 
minor variations and distribution (check particularly in this connection the 
"garter" discussion by Barry in Brit Bids Me, 91 ff .) in American versions, 
while Davis, Trd Bid Fa, and Cox, F-S South, carefully relate their texts to 
those in Child. SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplchns, B seems to take its initial 
stanza from The Wife of Usher's Well (79) and, with his L and BFSSNE, 
VIII, 7 contains the names Peter and Paul. The Thompson, Bdy Bts Brtchs 
text implies that poverty is one of the reasons for the killing of the children. 

Zielonko, op. cit., 63, in her discussion of 20, notes that the American 
methods of telling the story are three in number, as is the case with the 
Child texts: direct narrative (Child A C, F I and Barry A, C, F); indirect 
narrative (Child K L and Davis A B); and a combination of the two 
methods (Child D, E, J, N and Barry B). See also Barry's discussion in 
BFSSNE, VIII, 7 concerning the number of children and the saints, traits 
which may reveal influence from Dives and Lazarus (56). 

22. SAINT STEPHEN AND HEROD 
See the Vermont Historical Society, Proceedings, N.S., VII, 7398- 

24. BONNIE ANNIE 

Barry, (BFSSNE, X, II and XI, 9) printed two Maine fragments which 
he believed belong to Child 24, Bonnie Annie. The very lines, 

Captain take gold, and captain take money 
Captain take gold, but leave me my honey. 

-X, ii. 

cannot be found in the Child texts, but may well be from an American version 
of the Jonah-like story about the girl who elopes with her lover, only to be 
cast off the floundering ship in a storm. However, the second set of lines, 



J2 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

He kissed her cold lips a thousand times o'er 
And called her his darling, though she was no more. 

-XI, 9. 

belong to the Robson-Colwell comic ballad, Fillikins and his Dinah. The 
informant did place them in the same song with the first two lines, and Barry 
(XI, 9 10) attempts to rationalize this as corruption. My opinion is that 
such fragments are too brief to prove much. 

25. WILLIE'S LYKE-WAKE 
See the Vermont Historical Society, Proceedings, N.S., VII, 73 98. 

26. THE THREE RAVENS (THE TWA CORBIES) 

Texts: Barry, rit Bids Me, 435 (trace) / Belden, Mo F-S, 31 / Botkin, Am Play-Party Sg, 
63 / Brewster, Bids Sgs Ind, S3 1 Brown Coll / Bull Tenn FLS, VIII, #3, 76 / Chappell, F-S 
Rnke Alb, 15 / Chelsea Song Book, 31 / Christy's New Songster and Black Joker (cop. 1863), 58 / 
Cleveland's Compendium, Philadelphia, (1859) / Cox, F-S Soutb, 31 / Davis, Trd Bid Va, 137 / 
Flanders, Ft F-S Bids, 198 / Focus, V, 279, 281 / Frank Brower's Black Diamond Songster 
(cop. 1863), 3 / Frank Converse's Old Cremona Songster (cop. 1863), 56 / Haun, Cocke Cnty, 
102 / Heart Songs, 485 / Henry, F-S So HgUds, 48 / Hudson, F-S Miss, 72 / Hudson, F-T 
Miss, i / Hudson, Spec Miss F-L, # 6 / Jones, F-L Mick, 5 / JAFL, XX, 1 54 ; XXXI, 273 ; 
XLV, 8 / Linscott, F-S Old NE, 289 / McCill University Song Book (Montreal, 1921), 94 / 
Morris, F-S Flo, 387 / Niles, Bids Crls Tgc Lgds, 7 / Owens, Studies Tex F-S, 23 / PTFLS, VII, 
no / Randolph, Oz F-S, I, 74 / Scarborough, Sgctcbr So Mts, 194 / Scottish Student's Song 
Book, 268 / Singer's Journal, I, 239 / SharpC, Eng F-S So Aplcbns, # 10 / SharpK, Eng F-S 
So dplchns, I, 63 / Shoemaker, Mt Mnstly, 276 / Stout, F-L la, 2 / Fa FLS Bull, #s 4, 5, 
710 / Wake's Carmina Collegensia (Boston, cop, 1868), 26 / Wetmore and Bartholomew, 
Mt Sgs NC, 10. 

Local Titles: The Crow Song, The Three (Two) Ravens, The Two (Three) Crows, The Twa 
Corbies, Three Black Crows. 

Story Types: A: Two or three carefree crows wonder what they will have 
for supper. The corpse of a horse, or some other animal, is spied in a near-by 
field, and in the spirit of revelry they fly down for a feast. 
Examples : Brewster (A), Davis (A), Stout (A). 

B : Two birds on a tree wonder where they can dine. One remarks that 
a ship went down by the seashore and that he plans to go there. The other 
says he knows of a sweeter meal a knight who has been slain. Only the 
knight's hawk, hound, and lady know the man is lying there. All three are 
away, the lady with another lover. The birds plan their feast, while the last 
six lines tell of the cold bare grave of the knight in Anglo-Saxon style. This 
is the original Twa Corbies type. 

Examples: JAFL, XLV, 10; Shoemaker. 



A Critical) Bibliographical Study 53 

C: The Type B story is told, except that the English Three Ravens text 
is followed in that the hawks and true-love remain faithful. The girl dies at 
dawn. Examples: Stout (E). 

D : The two crows decide to eat a newly-born lambkin lying by a rock. A 
bird overhears the plan, goes to rouse the lamb, and tells him to flee. There 
is a moralistic, sentimental close. 

Examples: JAFL, XX, 154. 

E : A lyric song is sung by a girl of a lover who went to war in the Low- 
lands and now lies there known only to his horse and his "Lady Marie". He 
will sleep there, but she must grieve. There is no crow dialogue, and the 
mood is tragic. Examples: Niles. 

Discussion: The American versions of this song lack, in general, the dignity 
and feeling or cynicism of the English and Scottish versions. Except for the 
few texts in Types B and C, and the corrupted Type E, there are no human 
actors in the New World. The ballad has become an animal song, degenerated 
and parodied. (For its relations to the minstrel stage refer to Kittredge, 
JAFL, XXXI, 273. Also check Davis, Trd Bid Va, 145 and Cox, F-S South, 
31 for notes on the comic degeneration of the ballad.) 

Keys to the general spirit of almost all the American texts are the refrains 
("Billy Magee Magaw"; "Caw, Caw, Caw"; "Skubaugh"; etc. in place of the 
"hey down, hey derry day" and "sing lay doo and la doo and day" of 
Child B) ; endings such as the stock lines "Oh maybe you think there's an- 
other verse, but there isn't" on Brewster, BUs Sgs Ind, A; the interpolations 
of cures, "cracker-barrel philosophy," and politics (See Davis, Trd Bid Va^ 
C, G; Haun, Cocke Cnty, 102) ; and the sentimentality of Type D. The ration- 
alization that the horse has been slain by a butcher (Randolph, Oz F-S, A) 
carries the whole thing one step further. See also Davis, op. cit., F, M where 
the horse becomes a "pig with a glass eye" and where a "quack, quack" 
refrain can be found. 

There are a few texts in existence in America that retain the spirit of the 
Child versions. One Iowa song follows the English tradition, of the faithful 
girl. The others (Type B) probably owe their existence to the inclusion of a 
Twa Corbies text in Cleveland's Compendium (1859). Shoemaker found this 
form in Pennsylvania, and Barry located a Maine sea-captain who recognized 
seven of the ten Child stanzas. However, this man remembered a rescue of 
the knight directed by the ravens and a subsequent return to health by the 
warrior. 



54 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

The degenerated forms that I have used as Types D and E are not related 
to anything in Child. The sentimental rescue of the lambkin in D reminds 
one of the ending Barry's sea-captain claimed for the song. The absence of 
the crows and the confused story of Type E seem to indicate corruption, 
though there is a moving lyric-tragic tone to this text. 

Mention should be made of the extensive study of the ballad and its 
English and Scottish variants in Hermann Tardel's Zwei Liedstudien, /. Die 
engliscb schottiscbe Rolen Ballade, Beilage zum Jahresheit des Realgymna- 
siums zu Bremen. See also Zielonko, Some American Variants of Child 
Ballads, /iff. 

For a description of the ballad as a play-party game see Botkin, Am Play- 
Party Sg, 63. 

27, THE WHUMMIL BORE 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 437 (trace) / JAFL, XX, 155. 
Local Titles: None used. 

Story Types: A: A servant of the King tells of the only time he has seen a 
certain lady nude. He looked at her through a small hole while her maids 
were dressing her. Among other things, he tells how sad she looked, of the 
"tike" that was biting her shoe, and of the beauty of her hair, the rings on 
her hands, and her bosom. In a wistful close, he remarks that he can never 
know more of this lady. 

Examples: JAFL, XX, 155. 

Discussion: This American version is close to the Child text, although it is 
longer and has different details. The ballad is extremely rare in this country. 
Barry, Brit Bids Me, 437 reports that a Maine sea-captain recognized the 
motif and the chorus. 

31. THE MARRIAGE OF SIR GAWAIN 

The only known traces of this old romance-ballad in America are derivative 
songs that can scarcely be called versions. Typical is the Barry, Brit Bids 
Me^ 382 text entitled the Loathly Bride ', which alters the story considerably. 
In the original the girl suffers under a "hex" that keeps her ugly until she 
can find a man who will treat her courteously in spite of her haggishness. In 
the derivative she purposefully disguises herself as a hag to test a foolish 
vow her lover has made. In a rash moment, he has sworn to marry the first 
woman he meets who will have him. The grace of the old song has vanished, 
and the mood has become comic. There is no riddle to answer in exchange 
for King Arthur's life, and the sacrifice of Gawain to the hag is lacking. 



A Critical, Bibliographical Study 55 

Of the same sort is The Half-Hitch printed in Sturgis and Hughes, Sgs 
Hills Ft, 50 and Flanders, 7t F-S Bids, 236. 

32. THE LAILY WORM AND THE MACHREL OF THE SEA 
Reed Smith lists this ballad among the Child ballads surviving in America. 
See SFLQ, I 9 $2, 9 n. I have not, however, been able to locate a published 
text. 

37. THOMAS RYMER 
Texts: Brown Coll. 
Local Titles: True Thomas. 

Story Types: A: True Thomas is lying on a hill when a lovely lady in grass 
green clothes rides up. She takes him up behind her on her horse, and they 
speed off. Eventually they come to a garden, where Thomas eats of some 
fruit. The woman then promises to show him "fairies three", and after dress- 
ing him in green and silver she takes him away to elf-land for seven long 
years. Examples : Brown Coll. 

Discussion: This text, which is to be published with the F. C. Brown North 
Carolina Collection, is unique to America as far as I know. The ballad itself 
(See Child, I, Siyff.) goes back to a fifteenth century romance concerning 
a thirteenth century seer who was given prophetic power by the Queen of 
the Elves. In North Carolina, the story follows Child A without too much 
deviation. The first four stanzas of the American version parallel Child A, 
stanzas i, 2, 6, and 8. Two lines of North Carolina Stanza 5 are almost 
exactly like Child A, Stanza n, while North Carolina Stanza 6 parallels 
Child A Stanza 16. 

38. THE WEE, WEE MAN 
Texts: Brown Coll. 
Local Titles: None given. 

Story Types: A: A man out walking encounters a little fairy, no bigger 
than his ear, but strong "as any buck". The man picks the elf up, and, after 
watching him throw a huge stone far away, goes along a lane with the little 
fellow until they come to a castle. Here a lovely lady comes out and wishes 
to "rassle". They go to bed, and after a night of sport the man awakes to 
find both his love and the elf-man gone. 

Examples: Brown Coll. 

Discussion: This version of Child 38 does not follow any of the texts given 
by Child in his collection, although its first five stanzas are generally the 



5 6 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

same as the corresponding parts of all seven British stories. North Carolina 
Stanzas 6, 7, 8, and 9 are, however, a vulgarization and rationalization of 
the fairy-lore found in the final lines of the Child texts. In fact. Stanza 6 was 
so crude that the informant refused to sing it to the collector. (A note on the 
manuscript reads, "One stanza Mr. S. censored here, a description of the 
girPs physical qualities. He didn't know me well enough".) As will be noted 
with the publication of the F. C. Brown North Carolina Collection and the 
appearance of this text in print, there is a great deal of localization and 
modernization of the old lines in this unique American version. 

39. TAM LIN 

Texts: Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mts, 250. 
Local Titles: Tarn Lane. 

Story Types: A: Tarn Lane (who has been wooed away to the land of the 
fairies as a lover of the Queen of Elves) appears to Lady Margaret while 
she is pulling roses in Cartershay (Carterhaugh). He seduces her. When she 
wishes to know if he is a "Christian knight" he tells her of his plight and 
that, because the fairies pay a tithe to Hell every seven years, he wants to 
return. In order to bring him back to be a father to her child, Lady Margaret 
is to go to the crossroad and pull the rider from the white steed as the fairy 
folk ride by. She does this and wins the knight, though the Fairy Queen is 
extremely irritated and tells Tarn Lane what would have happened to him 
had she known his plans. (The holding of the knight through various horrible 
shapes that the fairies cause him to take and the throwing him in the well 
are lacking, while the fatherhood of Tam in respect to the girl's baby is not 
clear.) Examples: Scarborough. 

Discussion: Except for the melody and the first stanza which were given 
to the informant by Elinor Wylie, this text can not be fully accepted as part 
of the American tradition of the Child ballads. See Scarborough, Sgctchr So 
MtSy 250 I. The story given follows the Child narrative rather closely. 

For a discussion of the folklore centering about the well, Carterhaugh, the 
fairies and earth-maiden, as well as the crossroads, and for a history of the 
story see Child, I, 33Sff. 

40. THE QUEEN OF ELFAN'S NOURICE 
Texts: JAFL, XX, 155. 
Local Titles: None given. 

Story Types: A: This text is almost a lyric and concerns a girl who hears, 
an elf-call in the form of a cow low telling her to come and nurse an elf-child 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Sttidy 57 

under the sea. When asked by tlie elf-king why she moans, she says not for 
her breakfast, but for her lover whom she will never more see. 
Examples: JAFL, XX, 155. 

Discussion: The story and the speakers in this text do not become clear 
until one reads Child's discussion (I, 358). Here it is explained that the girl 
has been abducted by water-sprites a few days after she has had a baby in 
order that she may suckle an elf bairn. The girl is told she can expect to be 
returned to her Christian home as soon as the young elf is able to walk. 

The American text is not far from Child's version, but it is not close either. 
It certainly is abbreviated. 

42. CLERK COLVILL 
See the discussion of Lady Alice (Child 85). 

43. THE BROOMFIELD HILL 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 438 (trace) / Child, I, 390, ftnte / Combs, F-S Etats-Unis, 127 / 
Henry, F-S So Hghlds, 53 / JAFL, XXIV, 14. 

Lokal Titles: Green-broom, Green Broom Field. 

Story Types: A: Wagering that she can go to a tryst with a knight in the 
broomfield a maid and return a maid still, a girl sets out to meet her lover. 
In the field she finds him asleep beside his hawk. She scatters broom over his 
head and feet to insure his remaining asleep and hides to see what he will do 
upon waking. He soon rises and scolds his hawk for not letting him know 
that his sweetheart was near, saying that had he known he would have had 
his will of her. He then starts to pursue the girl, but is told she has fled too 
swiftly to be caught. Examples : Combs. 

B : This type differs from Type A in that the bet is actually made by the 
girl and her lover in the ballad. The man tells his parrot to wake him should 
he be asleep in the field when Ids love arrives. When he learns that he has 
been duped he is willing that "all the birds in the broomfield feast on her 
heart's blood". Examples : Henry. 

Discussion: The story is not clear in the Type A version. In the Child 
British texts the girl has a rendezvous with a knight which she is afraid to 
keep for fear of being seduced and afraid to miss because of her lover's 
wrath. A witch offers a solution by pointing out that she will find her lover 
asleep, can prolong this state by spreading blossoms on him, and leave her 



5 8 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

ring as a token she has been there. In Child the deceived knight scolds his 
horse and his hawk, and they defend themselves. 

The bet, made in the Type B version, also appears in the Child D F 
series, and the story is clear in this American text, but the lines are less 
lyric than the Combs song. 

For a discussion of the means used by the girl to prolong her lover's sleep, 
as well as for a treatment of the use of drugs and runes in European stories, 
see Child, I, 391 ff. 

MacKenzie, Bid Sea Sgs N Sc, 74 prints a song called The Sea Captain 
which is, as he states, rather closely related to The Broomfield Hill. 

44. THE TWA MAGICIANS 

Barry, Brit Bids Me, 442 reports that an Islesford, Maine woman re- 
cognized, but could not repeat, the Child Buchan Mss, text. See also the 
Barry Mss. in the Harvard University Library. 

45. KING JOHN AND THE BISHOP 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 445 (trace) / Flanders, Garl Gn Mt Sg, 58 / Flanders, Vt F-S 
Bids, 200 / Gardner and Checkering, Bids Sgs So Mich, 379 / JAFL, XXI, 54, 57 / NTFLQ, 
I,#i, 45 / Parsons, F-L Cape Verde Is, 94 (prose) / Smith and Rufty, Am Anth Old Wrld 
Bids, 8. 

Local Titles: King John and the Abbot, King John and the Bishop, The Bishop of Canter* 
bury. 

Story Types: A: Mighty King John sends for the Archbishop of Canter- 
bury and tells the churchman that he is a greater scholar than this king (or 
makes some such accusation) and that if he doesn't answer three questions 
correctly he will be beheaded. The questions are how much the King is 
worth mounted in all his state, how long the King will be travelling this 
world about, and what the King is thinking. The bishop goes homeward. On 
the way he meets a shepherd who offers to disguise himself as the churchman 
and answer the riddles. The shepherd tells King John that he is worth a 
piece less than Jesus, may go with the sun and circle the world in twenty- 
four hours, and thinks the man before him is the Archbishop of Canterbury. 
The King is amused by the wit of the man and excuses both. 
Examples: Flanders, Ft F-S Bids; JAFL, XXI, 54. 

Discussion: The American versions, all from the North, seem to be closely 
related to Child B. See Gardner and Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mich, 379 and 
Flanders, Ft F-S Bids, 200. The story is varied in a number of minor details, 
such as the shepherd's reward and the reason for the riddles being asked. 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study 59 

However, even the refrain "derry down, etc.", is retained in the Vermont 
text. See Flanders, loc . cit. 

The riddles of the story are not unusual. They appear in the same general 
form in European, American, Cape Verde, and Phillipine prose and poetic 
folklore. See MAFLS, XV, 94; XII, 287; JAFL, XXI, 58 (from N. J. via 
Missouri); and Child, I, 405 ff. 

46. CAPTAIN WEDDERBURN'S COURTSHIP 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 93 / Creighton, Sgs Bids N Sc, 6 / Gardner and Chickering, 
Bids Sgs So Mich, 139 / JAFL, XXIII, 377; XXIV, 335 / MacKenzie, Bids Sea Sgs N Sc, 14 / 
MacKenzie, Quest Bid, 108. Korson, Pa Sgs Lgds, 35. 

Local Titles: A Gentle Young Lady, Bold Robbington, Captain Woodstock, Mr. Wood- 
bum's Courtship, Six Questions. 

Story Types: A: A keeper of the game wishes to sleep with a certain girl. 
She coyly refuses until he has answered six (or some other number) questions. 
When he replies to those asked, he claims his right to sleep with her and not 
lie "next to the wall". She, however, asks three more questions. When he 
answers these, she asks no more and soon yields to his wishes. 

Examples: Barry (A), Creighton, Gardner and Chickering (A). 

"Discussion: The American texts of Captain Wedderburrfs Courtship are 
rare and, to my knowledge, concentrated in the northeastern portions of 
the United States and Canada. Where the ballad is found it is close to the 
Child versions, although condensed. However, it is not improbable that these 
American songs have come over from Britain by way of Ireland, 

Riddle ballads are extremely old (see Child, 1, 4156), and it is likely that 
the actual questions and answers that are used by the coy maid and her lover 
have become attached to this song from a tradition of their own. Throughout 
the United States it is common to find the riddles existing alone as a song 
known under the title / Gave My Love a Cherry. For representative examples 
consult Alberta P. Hannum, Thursday April, 204; Henry, F-S So Hgblds, 
141 and Sgs Sng So Aplchns, 25; Kincaid, Fav Mt Bids, 15; Kolb, Treasry 
F-S, 301; Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mts, 230; Scott, Sing of Am, 54; and 
SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplchns, II, 190. 

Child, I, 415 refers to a number of nursery songs which use these same 
riddles. See Halliwell's Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales, 150. Such texts 
are common to America under such titles as the Four Brothers or Peri Meri 
Dictum and make use of the motif that four brothers (three cousins) have 
sent a series of presents, the first a "cherry without a stone", etc. The gifts 
are subsequently explained. Representative texts can be found in the follow- 



60 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

ing works: Brown Collection; Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 2$; Franklin Square 
Song Collection (N. Y., 1881), 66; JAFL, XXIX, 157; Linscott, F-S Old NE, 
267; Mother Goose's Melodies (N. Y., 1877), 53, 82; Niles, More Sgs Hill Flk, 
12; and Randolph, OzF-S, II, 432. The garbled Latin refrain "perry merry 
dictum dominee" is characteristic of these songs. 

Two points of note concerning the American versions of Child 46 are that 
the Gardner and Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mich, text is uniquely told in the 
first person and that the "next to the wall" theme has caused a large amount 
of textual confusion. 

For a discussion of the American ramifications of the Child ballad and the 
riddles see Henry, F-S So Hghlds, 140. 



47. PROUD LADY MARGARET 

Reed Smith, SO Bids, 1714 lists this ballad among the American sur- 
vivals of Child songs. I have been unable to find any printed record of its 
existence in oral tradition. However, as the song is not on Smith's sub- 
sequent list (SFLQ, I, $2, 911), I believe the first entry to be a mistake. 
See the local titles for Young Hunting (68). 

49. THE TWA BROTHERS 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 99 / Belden, Mo F-S, 33 / Brewster, Bids Sgs Ind, 55 / Brown 
Coll / BFSSNE, V, 6 / Chappell, F-S Rnke Alb, 17 / Child, 1, 443 / Cox, F-S South, 33 / Cox, 
Trd Bids WFa,i$l Davis, Trd Bid Va, 146 / Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 26 / Haun, Cocke Cnty, 97 / 
Hudson, F"S Miss, 73 / Hudson, Spec Miss F-L, #7 / JAFL, XXVI, 361 ; XXVIII, 300; 
XXIX, 158; XXX, 294; XLVIII, 298; LII, 35 / JFSS, VI, 87 / Linscott, F-S Old NE, 278 / 
McGill, F-S Ky Mts, 55 / Morris, Flo, F-S, 388 / North American Review, CCXXVIII, 223 / 
Pound, Am Bids Sgs, 45 / Pound, Nebr Syllabus, 10 / Powell, 5 V& F-S, 15 / Randolph, Oz, 
F-S, I, 76 / Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mts, 1 66 / SharpC, Eng F-S So Aplchns, # 1 1 / SharpK, 
Eng F-S So Aplchns, I, 69 / Shearin and Combs, Ky Syllabus, 7 / SFLQ, II, 65; VIII, 141 / 
Vt Historical Society, Proceedings, N.S., VIII, 1939, 102 / Va FLS Butt, :$:s 35, 7, 9, 10. 

Local Titles: Billy Murdered John, John and William, Little Willie, Said Billie to Jimmie,, 
Take My Fine Shirt, The Dying Soldier, The Rolling of the Stones, The Two Brothers, The- 
Two School Boys, Two Born Brothers, Two Little Boys, Two Little Schoolmates. 

Story Types: A: Two brothers wrestle (or fight in some way), and, be- 
cause of jealousy over a mutual sweetheart (though this is often not clear), 
one pulls a knife and tills the other. Sometimes the older is the murderer; 
sometimes the younger. After the crime, there is a dying dialogue in which 
the killer asks his brother what he is to tell the family and the true-love. In 
some versions the dying lad's replies are actually repeated by the killer to 
the persons involved. Regardless, when the girl hears of the murder she 



A Critical^ JBibtiograpbical Study 6l 

charms the dead lover from his grave and requests a last kiss. The request 
is refused, and in a few texts the grief of the maid is revealed. 
Examples: Davis (A); Belden; SFLQ, VIII, 141. 

B : The story is the same as that of Type A, except the crime is accidental, 
rather than being the result of jealousy, passion, or the like. 
Examples: Linscott; JAFL, XXVI, 361; 
XXIX, 158; SharpK (C). 

C: The story is the same as that of Type A, except that all traces of the 
love affair and the jealousy have vanished. 

Examples: Brewster (A, B); Davis (J); 
Randolph, Oz F-S (A, B, C). 

D : From The Dying Soldier title and the absence of the murder, the story 
seems to have assumed a battlefield locale. It has become a plea for Willie 
to wrap "his" wound, carry him to the church, and bury him. 
Examples : SFLQ, II, 66. 

E : The murder happens as the result of spontaneous anger during a day- 
long test of strength between two brothers in the woods. The whole Type A 
story is included. Additional Edward, stanzas occur at the end and serve to 
add most the Type A of that ballad, as well as to implicate the mother in the 
crime. This last feature is in direct contradiction of The Twa Brothers 
reason for the crime. 

Examples: Vt. Historical Society, Proceedings. 

Discussion: The American texts of this ballad may well be older than the 
Child B version which is the parallel of so many of them. Barry, Brit Bids 
Me, icoff. in relating his own texts with the SharpC, Eng F-S So Aplchns, 
and Me Gill, F-S Ky Mts, southern versions expresses this view and points to 
the marked similarities in the widely separated texts, as well as to the fact 
that no songbook copies exist. 

Child B has major points in common with most New World versions (See 
Type A). The stabbing is on purpose and not accidental, the fe>W-ending 
is not present, and the kissing of the ghost motif (from Sweet William's 
Ghost, 77) appears. Generally, American versions name the girl Susie and not 
Margaret as in Child, though the boy's names, John and William, are re- 
tained. Usually, the brothers of Child become small boys whose age is in- 
compatible with the events of the story. 



62 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

Barry (BFSSNE, V, 6ff.) suggests the rivalry was originally for the in- 
cestuous love of the sister. Belden, Mo. F-S, 33 and SharpK, Eng F-S So 
Aplchns, K lend support to this idea. Incestuous love is not uncommon to the 
ballad, as is indicated by Flanders, New Gn Mt Sgstr, 94. See also Child 1 1 
and 51. 

Other American texts follow Child A (my Type B) and the Child D-G 
series (my Type E). Type B simply has the accidental death, which is a well- 
established mitigation of the tragedy. Type E adds the Edward-snAing. With 
this addition, the Flanders, Ft. Historical Society, text goes even farther than 
the Child D-G series in modelling a new story about 49 by means of 13. The 
implication of the mother is utterly out of place here because we are told 
earlier that the murder is the result of anger and frustration caused by the 
even struggle. For further study of this unique (to America) combination, 
Child G (the children's game); Cox, F-S South, 33; and Powell, 5 7a F-S 
(for similar start) should be investigated. See, as well, Morris (SFLQ, VIII, 
140) who points out the relationships of The Twa Brothers to Edward, Sir 
Orfeo, and Sir Hugh in its theme, harping, and nursery language. 

Type C stories reflect the process of forgetting. Randolph, Oz F-S, I, 79 
prints a comment in a headnote that is revealing. " 'It was originally a long 
piece', she (his informant) said, 'about a fool boy who murdered his brother 
with a pocket-knife, just because he did not feel like playing baseball!" 
Type D may well relate to this same group, although the battlefiled locale* 
seems to indicate localization. The Kirklands (SFLQ, II, 65) state that the 
singer believed the ballad to be a Civil War song. See also the last stanza 
of the Hudson, Spec Miss F-L, 7 text. 

Two other American deviations worth note are the Chappell, F-S Rnke 
Alb, 17 version which is unusual in that the older boy throws the younger on 
a pit of stones before killing him and is told to inform the parents as well as 
the true-love where the body is buried; and the Haun, Cocke 'Cnty, 97 text 
which has a number of lines directed at mean school-teachers and has the 
dying boy ask to have his teacher told he is going where he can get some 
peace. This latter song was collected from a little girl at school, which may 
account for the change. The Cox, Trd Bids W Va, 15 version is remarkable 
in that it opens with "girls a-rolling stone" as well as the usual boys playing 
ball. 

Zielonko, Some American Variants of Child Ballads, 76ff. discusses a 
selected group of texts quite thoroughly. 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study 63 

51. LJZIE WAN 

Texts: BFSSNE, VII, 6 / Morris, F-S Fla, 390 / SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplcbns, I, 89 / 
SFLQ, VIII, 142. 

Local Titles; Fair Lucy. 

Story Types: A: Lucy is with child by a lover (that her plight is the result 
of incest is not clear). Her brother, James, kills her and takes her head to 
her mother. There follows a question and answer (see Edward) motif of the 
"what will you do when your father comes home ?" sort. The brother, of 
course, says he will leave and never return. 

Examples: SharpK. 

B: Lucy is pregnant and her own brother is the lover. Her mother, sister, 
and brother each hear her crying, ask the cause, and are told the reason. The 
brother takes her to a wood and kills her. There is the Edward-ending. 
Examples: BFSSNE, VII, 7 (I); SFLQ, VIII, 142. 

Discussion: The story is not clear in the Type A version. The plight of 
Lucy, the brother's entrance, and the dialogue with the mother are all that 
remain. In the Type B texts, where the story is clearer, the trip to the wood 
is found, a feature not in Child. 

It is certain that an interchange between this song and Edward took place 
sometime early in British tradition. 

The song is rare in America, although there is a re-working of the story in 
Tht Forget-me-not Songster (Nafis & Cornish, N. Y., c. 1845), p. 247 called 
The Bloody Brother. 

53. YOUNG BEICHAN 

Note: For further references to the large number of printed texts in the tradition of Toung 
Beicban and its derivative Ike. Turkish Lady consult JAFL, XXX, 2967. 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 106 / Berea Quarterly, XVIII, 12, / Brown Coll / Butt Tenn 
FLS, VIII, #3, 68 / Bull V SC# 162, #3 / ChappeU, F-S Rnke Alb, 18 / Cox, F-S South, 36 / 
Cox, Trd Bid W Fa, 16 / Cox, W. Fa. School Journal and Educator, XLVI, 20 / Davis, Trd 
Bid Va, 158 / Duncan, No Hamilton Cnty, 38 / Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 28 / Edward Eggleston, 
Transit of Civilization, 137 / Flanders, Ft F-S Bids, 204 / Gardner and Chickering, Bids Sgs 
So Mich, 143 / Garrison, Searcy Cnty, 16 / Greenleaf and Mansfield, Bids Sea Sgs Newjdldy 
17 / Harper's Mgz (May, 1915), 903 / Henry, F-S So Hgblds, 58 / Hudson, F-S Miss, 75 / 
Hudson, Spec Miss F-L, #8 / Hummel Oz F-S / JAFL, XVHI, 209; XX, 251 ; XXII, 64; 
XXVI, 3535 XXVIII, 1495 XXX, 294; XLI, 585; XLII, 259 / Kincaid, Fav Mt Bids, 26 / 
MacKenzie, Bids Sea Sgs N Sc, 16 / MacKenzie, Quest Bid, 115 / Minish Mss. / Morris, F-S 
Fla, 292 / Pound, Am Bids Sgs, 33 / Pound, Nebr Syllabus, 9 / Musick, F-L Kirksville, 2 / 
Raine, Land Sddle Bags, 109 / Randolph, Oz F-S, I, 80 / Randolph, OzMtFlk, i^\ Elizabeth 
M. Roberts, The Great Meadow (N.Y., 1930), 645 / Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mts, 210 / 



64. British Traditional Ballad in North America 

Scott, Sing of Am, 40 / Sewanee Review, XIX, 316 / SharpC, Eng F-S So Aplchns, # 12 / 
SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplcbns, I, 81 / Shearin and Combs, Ky Syllabus, jj SFLQ, VIII, 144 / 
Reed Smith, SC Bids, 104 / Thomas, Devil's Ditties, 86 / Va FLS Bull, #3 2, 3, 59, 12 / 
Wheeler, .STy Mt F-S, 89 / Wyman and Brockway, Lnsme Tunes, 58. 

Local Titles: A Gentlemen of the Court of England, Lord Ateman, Lord Bateman (Bake- 
man, Baitsman, Batesman, Behan, etc.), Lord Bateman and the Turkish Lady, Lord Bate- 
man's Castle, Lord Wetram, The Jailer's Daughter, The Noble Lord, The Turkish Lady, 
Young Behan. 

Story Types: A: Lord Bateman, an English nobleman, is captured by the 
Turks while on a sea voyage. Put in prison, he wins the heart of a Turkish 
maid who sees him there. She frees him, after a mutual pact that neither 
will marry for seven years is agreed upon. At the end of that time, having no 
word from her lover, she sets out to find him. In England, Lord Bateman 
has just brought home a bride, but when he learns that his true-love has 
appeared on the scene he sends the bride home again (none the worse for 
him) and plans a marriage with the Turkish girl. 

Examples: Barry (A); Davis (A); Randolph, OzF-S (A). 

B : The story is basically the same as that of Type A. However, the girl's 
father builds her a ship to sail after her lover, Lord Bateman attempts to 
marry the Turkish girl to his elder and younger brothers when she appears 
in England, and she continually reminds the Lord of a 90,000 forfeit he 
must pay if he doesn't marry her. 

Examples: Henry (A). 

Discussion: Most American versions of this song compare closely with 
Child L as to length, detail, and story outline. Some of the minor points 
vary: for example, the mention of the hole bored in the hero's shoulder (see 
Child H, etc.), the lady's desire for the Lord's body rather than material 
reward, and a home such as India, etc. for the hero. The miraculous voyage 
(Child C, etc.) has been excluded in America, as is generally the case with 
such matter, and no traces of the supernatural Billy Blin remain. 

Kittredge (J4FL, XXX, 295) used "the hole bored in the hero's shoulder" 
as a means of distinguishing the texts akin to Child L from those of the 
Coverly broadside (Isaiah Thomas Collection, Worcester, Mass,) group. It 
is possible the Indian home of Beichan comes from this broadside, although 
Barry (Brit Bids Me, 109) is doubtful. It is also noteworthy that the great 
majority of the New World texts use a variation of the English Bateman 
name, rather than the Scottish Beichan. 

The name of the hero is subject to a great number of spellings in America: 
Bacon, Ateman, and Beechman being particularly unusual. The girl, as in 



A Critical, Bibliographical Study 65 

Child, always has a singularly un-Turkish name such as Suzanne, Sophia, 
Honey, Silky, Friar, Susie Free, Susie Pines, Susanna Spicer, etc. 

SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplcbns (F) prints an interesting American ending 
that relates how the Turkish girl "was put on the house enrolment, Lord 
Beechman's landlady", which seems unbelievable in view of the fact that 
one stanza before he has returned the bride to her mother. The Wyman and 
Brockway (Lnsme Tunes, 58 and JAFL> XXII, 64) Kentucky texts do not 
include the return of the bride, but in them the Lord swears hell give up all 
his lands and dwellings for his Turkish love. See also Scott, Sing of Am, 40. 
The Henry {JAFL, XLII, 259) text finds Behan (note the Scottish name) 
living in Glasgow and the jilted bride a brown girl. In the Cox, Trd Bids W 
VCL, Lord Wetram version the length of time is four rather than seven years 
and the bride's father and not her mother takes the daughter home. 

The story has been subject to confusion and corruption in America. 
Thomas (Devil's Ditties^ 86) prints a text that is obscured as to narrative 
through the misplacement of a stanza. In addition, there is a large group of 
derivative songs that go under the name of The Turkish Lady in this country. 
Creighton, Sgs Bids N Sc 9 26 and MacKenzie, Bids Sea. Sgs N Sc, 66 and 
Quest Bld y 130 publish examples, while Barry reprints a Forget-me-not 
Songster (Nafis and Cornish, N. Y., c. 1845) 169 text in JAFL, XXIII, 450. 
Other illustrative examples of the derivatives of this song can be seen in the 
Forget-me-not Songster (Turner and Fisher, Philadelphia and N. Y.), 248; 
MarsVs Book of a Thousand Songs for the Million,- 171 ; The Old Forget-me-not 
Songster (Locke & Dubin, Boston), 171 ; and the Washington Songster (Turner 
and Fisher, Philadelphia andN. Y.), 13 1. The JAFLTtet (XXX, 296 ff.) cited in 
the note includes the "Lord Bateman" broadsides in the Harvard University 
Library and some Turkish Lady references. The song also appears in children's 
book form. See Me Loughlin, N. Y., c. 1877. 

Child (I, 455 ff.) discusses the affinities of this song and the Hind Horn 
romance and the Gilbert a Becket legend. For remarks on the seven-year 
pact and the traditional common law on presumption of death see Wheeler, 
Ky Mt F-S, 89, headnote. The version printed here is one of the more com- 
plete of the American texts. Zielonko, Some American Variants of Child 
Ballads, 83 ff. treats the whole American tradition through an extensive 
study of selected texts. 

54. THE CHERRY-TREE CAROL 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 446 (trace) / Brown Coll / BFSSNE, VI, 14 / Bull Tenn FLS, 
VIII, #3, 78 / Davis, Trd Bid Va, 172 / Flanders, Cntry Sgs 7t, 48 / Henry, F-S So HgUds, 
59 / Jackson, Down East Spirituals, 60 / JAFL, XXIX, 2935 XLV, 13 / McGill, F-S Ky Mts, 



66 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

60 / Minish Mss. / Morris, F-S Flo, 39$ / NTFLO, I, 48 / Niles, 7 Ky Mt Tunes, 4 / Pound, 
Am Bids Sgs, 47 / Randolph, OzF-S, I, 88 / Scarborough, On Trail N F-S, 60 / SFLQ, VIII y 
145 / Sharp C, Eng F-S So Aplcbns, 4J: 13 / SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplcbns, I, 54 / Smith and 
Rufty, Am Anth Old Wrld Bids, 12 / Thomas, Bid Makin* Mts Ky, 223 ff. / Fa FLS Bull> 
#s 4, 5 1 Wheeler, Ky Mt F-S, 3. 

Local Titles; Cherry-Tree Carol, Joseph and Mary, Sweet Mary, Sweet Mary and Joseph, 
The Cherry Tree, The Sixth of January. 

Story Types: A: Mary accompanies Joseph to Jerusalem. On the way she 
requests her husband to pull some cherries down from a tree, as she thinks 
she is pregnant and desires them. Angered, Joseph tells her to get the father 
of her child to pull them down. Christ then speaks from the womb (or the 
Lord speaks from Heaven) to the tree which bends to the ground miracul- 
ously. Generally, it is implied that Joseph is abashed. 

Examples : Davis (A). 

B : The Type A story is sometimes continued to the extent that Joseph 
takes Mary on his knees, begs forgiveness, and asks the child when his birth- 
day will be. The child speaks from the womb and names Old Christmas Day 
as his birthday. Some texts have an additional description of the birth. 
Examples: McGill; SharpK (A, B); Thomas, p. 229 C. 

C: Mary asks for cherries and orders the tree to bow herself. There is no 
remark about the father. Heavenly voices, rather than the Christ-child, tell 
Joseph of his son's birth and of the manger. 

Examples: Thomas, p. 226 B; Wheeler. 

D : The usual story is presented but a number of stanzas are added telling 
where and how the Saviour was born and reviewing, when the Christ-child 
speaks, the main events of His life. 

Examples: Flanders. 

E : A lyric derived from the above story which reveals how, as Joseph and 
Mary walked in the cherry garden, they heard angel voices prophesying 
the birth of Jesus in a stall. 

Examples: JJFL, XLV, 13; NTFLQ, I, 48. 

Discussion: Child (II, i) discusses the origin of the story in the Pseudo- 
Matthew-Gospel. See also Migne, Patrologia Graeca, LXVII, 1281. Here the 
tree is a palm, and the baby does not speak from the womb. In England, the 
tree became a cherry, Jesus is in the womb, and Joseph suspects infidelity 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study 6j 

when he hears of his wife's pregnancy. There are also further stanzas added 
in which Joseph is told by an angel of the Nativity. The story has a wide- 
spread 'history, Child (II, i) noting its occurance in the Coventry Mystery 
Cycle and Davis (Trd Bid Fa, 172) finding it in the sermon of a Negro 
preacher. See also JAFL, XXX, 297. 

The ballad was not found in America until 1915 (See JAFL, XXIX, 
293 4). It is not extremely rare, however. The American texts located have 
five story types, all of which show affinities with the Child texts. Certain 
American variations usually can be found: Joseph generally takes Mary on 
his knees; Jesus more consistently speaks from the womb; Type A lacks the 
"angel" stanzas; and Old Christmas Day is named as the child's birthday. 

This last feature, which does not occur in the Child texts, is the subject 
of an interesting discussion in SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplchns, I, 415. Here it 
is pointed out that the B and C texts give January 5 as the date of Old 
Christmas as it was in 1752 99 after eleven days were dropped from the 
calendar (1751). In 1800 another day was taken away, and still another in 
1900, so that January 7 is now Old Christmas Day. The McGill, F-S KyMts, 
60 text prints January 6 as the date. 

Child (II, i) points out that "in Catalan and Provencal the tree is an 
apple". Barry, Brit Bids Me 9 446 reports that a number of Maine people 
were familiar with this song and one individual with an Irish "apple-tree and 
Virgin (not Mary)" text. Also note the stones which cry from the streets and 
wall in praise of Mary in the Type A Minish Mss. version. See Child A, B for 
use of these stones in a different way. 

The song is sometimes given humorous treatment in America. See Niles, 
7 Ky Mt ^uneS) 5 (footnote) and the text itself. 



56. DIVES AND LAZARUS 

Texts: Davis, Trd Sid Fa, 175 / Jackson, Dozen East Spirituals, 27 / SharpC, EngF-S So 

Aplcbns, 253 / SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplcbns, II, 29 / SFLQ, II, 68 / Va FLS Bull,#iz. 

Local Titles: Lazarus, Lazarus and Dives, The Rich Man and Lazarus, The Rich Man Dives. 

Story Types: A: Lazarus begs the crumbs from rich Dives' table. The 
latter scorns him, although the dogs take pity on him and lick his sores. 
After death, when Dives has gone to Hell and Lazarus to Heaven, the situa- 
tion is reversed, and Dives begs Abraham to send Lazarus to him with water. 
Abraham reminds the sinner of his actions while on earth and of the great 
gulf between Heaven and Hell. In the complete Virginia text, Dives then 
repents and requests that Lazarus be sent to warn Dives' brethren who are 
headed for ruin too. Examples: Davis. 

6* 



68 British traditional Ballad in North America 

Discussion: The American texts of this ballad are quite corrupt and, to 
quote Davis, 3W Sid Va^ 175, differ entirely "except in the bald outline of 
the Biblical story,, from the Child versions". Both this text and the SFLQ 
song are extremely compressed and the Kirklands call their version a deriv- 
ative. In the Sha-rp collections Lazarus is not even included among the 
ballads. 

Typical of the changes the story has undergone in its sea-voyage is the 
incident in wild the dogs figure. In Child Dives sends men with whips and 
the dogs out to nLangle Lazarus, but they find they have no power to hurt 
him. In America the dogs are restrained by pity alone. In addition the 
language of the Virginia version is not ballad language and there is almost 
no rime. 

For a discussion of a possible Gaelic introduction of this song into America, 
see George P. Jaclson, Down East Spirituals, 27. His text is reprinted from 
Davis, loc. cit. 

58. SIR PATRICK SPENS 

Texts: Brown Coll | SFLQ, I, #i, 10; #4, i. 
Local Titles: Sir Patrick Spens. 

Story 'Types: A ; The king needs a skipper to sail his ship to Norway and 
"bring home 5 ' Qu&en Margaret's lass. On a counsellor's advice, he writes Sir 
Patrick Spens. Sp&ns rues the assignment because of the season, but sets out 
anyway. After a number of insults thrown at him and his crew in Norway, 
Spens from pride sets sail in the face of an impending storm. The gale strikes, 
and in spite of cloth wrapped about its sides the ship flounders. The ladies 
may sit and wait a but Sir Patrick Spens will never come home. 
Examples : SFLQ, I, #i, 10; #4,1. 

Discussion; FOE a discussion of the discovery of this ballad in America see 
SFLQ., I, #1,3. The text given in that issue is excellent, with the famous 
"old moon" and closing stanzas intact. 

Child, II, 19 20 cites events that are possible historical bases for the 
story. The most likely are the voyages centering about the marriage of 
Margaret and Eric of Norway in 1281 and the subsequent return of their 
daughter to marry Edward I of England in 1290. 

The American story follows the Child G-J series. The Tennessee ( $4, i) 
text is abbreviated, however, and leaves out the "moon" stanza, the "wrap- 
ping" of the ship during the storm, and the poetic end. The reasons for 
Spens' leaving Norway and for his being sent have been obscured, and the 
King is looking for a new sailor in the end. The mood is cold and objective. 



A Critical, Bibliographical Study 69 

62. FAIR ANNIE 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 446 / Boston Sunday Globe, 4 iS'zo / Child Mss. / Combs, 
F-S Etats-Unis, 129 / Davis, Trd Bid Va, 177 / SharpC, F-S So Aplcbns,#it / SharpK, 
Eng F-S So Aplchw^ I, 95. 

Local Titles: Fair Annie, Lady Eleanor, The Sister's Husband. 

Story Types: A: Lord Thomas tells his poor and stolen love, Fair Annie, 
by whom lie has had six sons and is expecting another, that he is bringing 
a rich bride home. She is crushed, but waits for his return and even serves 
at the wedding. Later she and the bride learn that they are sisters. (Tradition- 
ally this discovery originates in a song sung by the heroine. In America the 
song is just unexplained fluting.) The bride offers her riches to this sister and 
sends her back to the home from which Thomas had stolen her. In some 
songs a condition that Thomas be hung is made. 

Examples: Davis. 

B : The added information is presented at the start of the story that Annie 
was stolen by Indians and ransomed from them by the Lord. 

Examples: Combs. 

Discussion: A summary of the Child stories (See Davis, Trd Bid V&, 177 
is as follows : Annie was stolen in her childhood by a knight from over the sea, 
to whom she has born seven sons out of wedlock. Her consort bids her pre- 
pare to welcome a bride, with whom he shall get gowd and gear; with her 
he got none. She must look like a maid, comb down her yellow locks, and 
braid her hair. Annie meekly assents, as she loves the knight. Suppressing 
her tears, Annie serves at the wedding and makes the bride comfortable. 
When the married couple go to bed, Annie in a room by herself bewails her 
lot in a sad song to her harp or her virginals. The bride hears the song and 
goes to Annie's chamber to see what is wrong. There, she inquires of Annie's 
parentage and learns they are sisters. The bride, who had come with many 
well-loaded ships, gives most of her wealth to Annie and goes home a virgin. 

The American versions are invariably compressed and take a lot for 
granted even if the story is already known a fact that reveals clearly how 
material becomes unexplainable in transmission. The Type A story follows 
Child A most closely and retains the names Annie and Thomas (probably 
borrowed in Britain from 73). The Child Mss. version printed by Barry in 
Brit Bids Me, 446 (See JAFL, XXVII, 57) is from Massachusetts and differs 
textually from the southern American versions. The SharpK, Eng F-S So 
Aplclns, North Carolina text has lost the fluting and is very hard to follow. 
Combs, F-S Etats-Unis, 129 attributes the presence of Indians in his version 
to the currency of the ballad on the frontier. See Type B. 



70 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

63. CHILD WATERS 

Texts: Brown Coll / Randolph, Oz F-S^ I, 89. 
Local Titles: Fair Ellen, The Little Page Boy. 

Story 7ypes: A: (As given to Randolph, Oz F-S, I, 89 from Fayette- 
ville, Ark.) A young man deserts a poor girl to court a rich. lady. The girl 
disguises herself as a page and accompanies him to the castle. She cares for 
his horse and even rides behind him unrecognized. Eventually her sex be- 
comes known through pregnancy. She gives birth to a son in a stable, and 
the lover, hearing this, comes to her and decides to marry her. 

Examples: Randolph. 

Discussion: The American version gives a more practical reason for the 
lover's cruelty than those implied in Child, and the disguised identity of the 
girl makes the story slightly different. This latter change may well be due 
to American chivalry. 

65. LADY MAISRY 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 448 (trace) / Davis, Trd Bid Va^ 180 / Scarborough, Sgctchr 
So Mts, 137 / SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplchns^ I, 97 / Va FLS Still, # 1 1. 
Local Titles: Lady Maisry. 

Story 7ypes: A: A girl is with child, and her parents are planning to burn 
her at the stake. She sends her oldest brother's son to tell her lover what 
has happened and to get him to attend the burial. The boy goes and informs 
the lover who hurries to the girl's house blowing his bugle. The girl, hearing, 
is tied to the stake unafraid. The hero rushes up just in time to tear her 
dying form from the flames and kiss her. He then wills his land to the oldest 
brother's son. Examples: SharpK (A). 

B : The same story is told. However, it is abbreviated and has a cliche 
ending added so that the man is late and can only stop the funeral, kiss the 
corpse, and die himself. 

Examples: Scarborough. 

Discussion: The American versions remain pretty close to the Child story, 
although the complete tale does not exist over here. Child (II, iiz)'s sum- 
mary of the story, as quoted by Davis, Trd Bid Va> 1 80, gives the action as 
follows : It is discovered that Maisry goes with child. Her brother or father 
demands that she renounce the lord who is the English lover, but she refuses. 
Her father offers her the choice of marrying an old man or burning at the 



A Critical, Bibliographical Study 71 

stake. In some versions the family (in keeping with romance practice) begins 
preparations to burn her without mention of choice. Maisry is warned of her 
fate and sends a devoted young messenger to carry word to her lord. The 
English lord, on learning what has happened, saddles his best steeds and 
hurries off. Maisry, in the flames, hears the bugle. She scorns her family's 
efforts. In some texts she cries out to her lover that she would cast his son 
from the fire if her hands were free. He leaps into the blaze for a last kiss as 
her body crumbles. On seeing her dead, the Englishman threatens cruel re- 
taliation on the family, deeds to be followed by his suicide. 

The Type A text seems to substitute the will-writing for the revenge 
threats, though one can not be sure. Certainly the ending of this incomplete 
version is less severe. The Type B story is not in Child and is quite con- 
ventional (See Lord Lovel and Barbara Allen). 

66. LORD INGRAM AND CHIEL WYET 

Reed Smith lists this ballad among the Child survivals in America. See 
SFLQy I, $2, 9 ii. I have not, however, been able to locate a published 
text of it. 

67. GLASGERION 

On Page 11 of BFSSNE, III there is a text printed by Phillips Barry of 
Jack the Jolly Tar which he terms a secondary form of Child 67. This song 
is a comic work concerning a sailor who gets a place to sleep for the night by 
anticipating the lover of a girl. However, such stories are extremely old and 
common. See Child, II, 137 for references. 

68. YOUNG HUNTING 

Texts: American Speech, III, njj Barry, Brit Bids Me, I22/ Belden,Mo.F-S, 34/Brewster, 
Bids Sgs Ind, 166 / Brown Coll / Bull Tenn FLS, VIII, #3, 72 / Bull U SC# 162, #4 / 
Cambiaire, Ea Tenn Wstn Va Mt Bids, 28 / Chappeil, F-S Enke Alb, 21 / Cox, F-S South, 42 / 
Crabtree, Overton Cnty, 283 / Davis, Trd Bid Va, 182 / Delaney's Scotch Song Book (N.Y., 
1910), 6 / Duncan, No Hamilton Cnty, 44 / Focus, V, 280 / Garrison, Searcy Cnty, 22 / Gordon, 
F-S Am, 66 / Harpers Mgz (May 1915), 909 / Henry, F-S So Hgblds, 145 / Hudson, F-S Miss, 
77 / Hudson, Spec Miss F-L, #9 / Hummel, OK F-S / JAFL, XX, 252; XXX, 2975 XLIV, 
67; HI, 30 / Ky Cnties Mss. / Lunsford and Stringfield, 30 & i F-S So Mts, 22 / McDonald, 
Selctd F-S Mo, 20 / Morris, F-S Fla, 397 / N.T. Times Mgz, 10 9 '27 / Owens, SW Sings / 
Owens, Studies Tex F-S, 24 / PTFLS, X, 143 / Randolph, Oz F-S, I, 90 / Randolph, Oz Mt 
Flk, 203 / Sandburg, Am Sgbag, 64 / Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mts, 134; SharpC, EngF-S So 
dplchns, # 15 / SharpK, EngF-S So Aplchns, I, 101 / Reed Smith, SC Bids, 107 / Smith and 
Rufty, Am Anth Old WrU Bids, i$\Va FLS Bull, #s 5 7, 10 / William and Mary Literary 
Mgz, XXIX, 664. 



72 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

Local Tides: Little Scotchee, Lord Banyan, Lord Barnet, Lord Barnet and Fair Eleonder, 
Lord Bonnie, Lord Henry, Love Henry (Henery), Pretty Polly, Proud Lady Margaret, Sir 
(Lord) Henry and Lady Margaret, Sweet William and Fair EUender, The Faulse Lady, The 
Old Scotch Well, The Scotland Man. 

Story Types: A: Lord Henry returns from a hunt and is invited to spend 
the night with his mistress Margaret. He refuses, saying a lady he loves far 
better (in. SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplcbns, N it is his wife) is waiting for him. 
About to depart, he leans over his horse's neck, her pillow, or the fence to 
kiss Margaret good-bye, and she stabs him. Henry then reveals he loves 
Lady Margaret and dies. She, with or without the aid of maids, sisters, etc., 
throws his body in a well. A bird accuses her of the crime; she attempts to 
bribe him and then threatens him, all to no avail. In most versions, the bird 
reveals her guilt. 

Examples: Belden, Davis (A), SharpK (A). 

B : The story is like that of Type A, but the motive for the killing has been 
obliterated. Henry refuses to stay for the night as he wishes to see his 
parents. Examples: Barry (B), Randolph, OzF-S (A). 

C : A Ky.~Miss. version begins with the girl's walking in the garden where 
she meets her father-in-law. He asks for his son, and she says her husband 
is out hunting, but is expected soon. The bird then speaks up and reveals 
that the lover is dead and his body in the well. The girl tries to bribe the bird, 
but the bird refuses to cease his accusations. Men dig in the well and find the 
body, and the girl, as well as her maid, is hung. 

Examples: Hudson (A). 

D: The usual story is told. However, the girl commits suicide that night. 
She leaves her ring on Henry's finger in some versions. 
Examples: Cambiaire, Scarborough. 

E : A corrupted version (The Forsaken Girl series) exists. In it Henry gives 
the girPs faithlessness as an excuse for his leaving her. She then upbraids him 
for forsaking her, wishes she were dead, and rues her lot of bearing him or 
child. Examples: Henry. 

F : A confused and corrupt version exists in which the murder occurs out- 
side a barroom. The body is thrown in a well, and the girl announces to all 
what she has done. The bird sequence has lost its purpose. 

Examples: SharpK (H). 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study 73 

G: A lyric has developed from the final stanzas of dialogue between the 
bird and the girl in which the murder is only mentioned. 
Examples: SFLQ, VIII, 146. 

Discussion: The original story of this ballad (Child A, C, H, K) frequently 
mentions the king's duckers, who find the body after a hint from the bird. 
The lady then swears she is innocent and tries to blame her maid. However, 
a trial by fire leaves the maid unscathed, but consumes the guilty one. Such 
material, except for traces in Type C, is not in America. 

In general, the ballad is far more common in the South than in the North. 
In fact, the song is extremely rare in British North America, though Barry 
(JAFL, XVIII, 295) gives a melody without text. Belden, Mo F-S, 35 
suspects the presence of a stall copy to have perpetuated the song over here. 
The similarity of the American versions backs up his opinion. As usual, 
these versions are compressed, and they lack the dressing up of the dead man 
and the mounting of him on his horse (Child A-D, G, H, J-K), the recovery 
of the drowned body (Child A-D, G, H, J-K), and the intoxication of the 
hero before the murder (Child A, J, K). It may be possible, nevertheless (see 
Belden, loc. cit.\ that remnants of the drinking may be in Davis, Trd Bid 
Va, C, D; SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplcbns, D; JAFL, XXX, 301; Cambiaire, 
Ea Tenn Wstn Va Mt Bids; and Brewster, Bids Sgs Ind. 

The American Type A stories lack the fire ending and the duckers. Type B 
reveals how a ballad story can change. With some singer's (or publisher's) 
caprice the motive for the crime has been obliterated (see Bull Tenn FLS, 
VIII, $3, 72), although Barry, Brit Bids Me, 126 shows, through a later 
stanza in his B version, that this group is actually the same as Type A. 
Type C seems to be an adaption of the Child A, C, H, K series, although the 
lover is more properly married and the father of the youth is present. The 
revelation of the crime by a bird is in Child J-K. 

The song has been subjected to much corruption. (See Zielonko, Some 
American Variants of Child Ballads, 93 ff.) The parrot stanzas of Lady 
Isabel and the Elf-Knight (Child 4) have attached themselves to it both here 
and in Great Britain (Child I and Davis, op. cit^ A), while it has also mingled 
with its own derivative, The False Toung Man ( SharpC, Eng F-S So Apkbns, 
333, note, and # 94) ; Henry, F~S So Hghlds, 146; JAFL, XLIV, 67; and my 
Type E.) Types D and F are almost self-explanatory. The former is either 
a rationalization of the antiquated "fire" judgment or a localization, while 
the latter is one of those hybrids that is certain to occur if any song wanders 
long enough. 

The confusion of the Scarborough, Sgrtchr So Mts, B text should be 



74 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

noted. The parrot and the girl, who are so often both named Polly, become 
completely confused, and the story vanishes in nonsense. In addition, 
Brewster, op. cit., 166 prints a version of The Trooper and the Maid, (299) 
that is about half Young Hunting. See Type C under 299. 

See Zielonko, op. cit., 93 ff. for study of selected New World texts. 



73. LORD THOMAS AND FAIR ANNEX 

Texts: Berea Quarterly, IX, #3, 10; XIV, #3, 27; XVIII, #4, 14 / Barry, Brit Bids Me, 
126 / Belden, Mo F-S, 37 / Boletin Latino Americano de Musica, V, 279 / Brewster, Bids Sgs 
2nd, 58 / Brown Coll / Bull U SC # 162, # 5 / CFLQ, V, 21 1 / Cambiaire, Ea Tenn Wstn Va 
Mt Bids, 34, 1 1 5 / Chappell, F-S Rnke Alb, 23 / Child, III, 509 / Child MSB., XIII, #73 / Cox, 
W. Va. School Journal and Educator, XLV, 186 / Creighton, Sgs Bids N Sc, 8 / Cutting, 
Adirondack Cnty, 65 / Davis, Trd Bid Va, 191 / Decennial Publication, Univ of Chicago, VII, 
140 / Duncan, No Hamilton Cnty, 48 / Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 29 / Flanders, Gad Gn Mt Sg,6i/ 
Flanders, VtF-S Bids, 209 / Focus, III, 204; IV, 162 1 Folk Lore Journal, VII, 33 / The Forget- 
me-not Songster (Nafis and Cornish, N.Y.), 236 / Fuson, Bids Ky Hgblds, 49 / Gardner and 
Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mich, 37 / Garrison, Searcy Cnty, 7 / Greenleaf and Mansfield, Bids 
Sea Sgs Newfdld, 18 / Haufrecht (ed.), Wayfariri Stranger, io/ Haun, Cocke Cnty, 74 / Henry, 
Beech Mt F-S, 16 / Henry, F-S So Hgblds, 60 / Henry, Sgs Sng So Aplcbns, 41 / HFLQ, III, 
= i, io / Hudson, F-S Miss, 78 / Hudson, F-T Miss, 13, 21 / Hudson, Spec Miss F-L, # io / 
Hummel, Oz F-S / JAFL, XVIII, 128; XIX, 235; XX, 254; XXVIII, 152; XXIX, 159; 
XXXIX, 94; XLII, 262; XLVIII, 314; LII, 75 / Ky Cnties Mss. / Kincaid, Fav Mt Bids, 36 / 
Leach-Beck Mss. / Luther, Amcns Their Sgs, 23 / MacKenzie, Bids Sea, Sgs N Sc, 20 / Mac- 
Kenzie, Quest Bid, 97 / Mason, Cannon Cnty, 14 / C.H. Matschat, Suwannee River, 63 / McGill, 
F-S Ky Mts, 28 / Minish Mss. / Morris, F-SFla, 398 / Neely and Spargo, Tales Sgs So III, 136 / 
Niles, Bids Crls Tgc Lgds, 20 / Niles, 7 Ky Mt Tunes, 12 / Nortb American Review, CCXXVIII, 
221 / Outlook, LXIII, 120 / Owens, Studies Tex F-S, 20 / Perry, Carter Cnty, 177 / Pound, Am 
Bids Sgs, 27 I Pound, Nebr Syllabus, n / PTFLS, X, 144 / Raine, Land Sddle Bags, 112 / 
Randolph, Oz F~S, I, 93 / Sandburg, Am Sgbag, 157 / Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mts, 105 / 
Sharp C, Eng F-S So Aplcbns, 4i6 / Sharp K, Eng F-S So Aplcbns, I, 115 / Shearin and 
Combs, Ky Syllabus, 8 / Sheppard, Cabins in the Laurel, 285 / Shoemaker, Mt Mnstly, 160 / 
Shoemaker, No Pa Mnstly, 155 / Reed Smith, SC Bids, 109 / Smith and Rufty, Am Anih 
Old Wrld Bids, 17 / SFLQ, II, 695 VIII, 147 / Stout, F-L la, 5 / The Survey, XXXIII, 374 / 
Thomas, Devil's Ditties, 88 / Va FLS Bull, :js 2, 3, 5 io / Wyman and Brockway, 20 Ky 
Mt Sgs, 14 / Wyman Mss. #9. 

Local Titles: Fair Eleanor (Ellender, etc., eta), Fair Ellen, Fair Eleanor and the Brown 
Girl, Fy Ellinore, Lord Thomas, Lord Thomas and Fair Annet, Lord Thomas and Fair 
Eleanor, Lord Thomas and Fair Ellen, Lord Thomas and the Brown Girl, Lord Thomas's 
Wedding, The Legend of Fair Eleanor and the Brown Girl, The Brown Bride, The Brown 
Girl, The Three Lovers, The Three True Lovers. 

Story Types: A: Lord Thomas, in love with, poor but fair Eleanor, is per- 
suaded to marry the rich brown girl. Dressed in scarlet and green, Eleanor, 
who has been personally informed of her misfortune by Lord Thomas, 
attends the wedding. She outshines the bride, and the latter stabs her to 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study 75 

death in a fit of jealous rage. Lord Thomas then lolls the bride, usually by 
chopping off her head, and commits suicide. 

Examples: Davis (A), SharpK (L), Smith (B). 

B : The story is identical to that of Type A, except the youth is advised to 
marry the brown girl because she is poor and Fair Eleanor rich. In an Iowa 
text Lord Thomas' name has become attached to Eleanor's father. 
Examples: JJFL, LII, 75; Scarborough (E). 

Discussion: Child 73, 74, and 75 are very closely related, and they are 
frequently found blended. See, for example, Stanza I in the otherwise pure 
version of 73 in Henry, Beech MtF-S, 16. Davis, Trd Bid Fa, 191 cites the 
distinguishing marks. (See also Child, II, 180.) In 73 there is a triangle with 
three violent deaths; in 74, a triangle and two remorseful deaths; in 75 there 
is no triangle and two remorseful deaths. All three make use of the rose- 
briar motif, although 73 uses this theme far less than the other two. 

The majority of the American versions of this ballad are related to Child D, 
an English text. The Scottish form, with the contamination from 74 and the 
remarks by the brown girl on how Annet got her fair complexion, are not 
common in any of the more modern versions. Belden, Mo F-S, 37 feels that 
those ballads in which Lord Thomas is a bold forester show a close relation- 
ship to print. Check the bibliography with respect to Barry, Davis, SharpK, 
Shoemaker and The Forget-me-not Songster. This "bold forester" beginning 
is the most common form in America and has generally replaced the scene 
of the lovers on the hill which is common to both 73 and 74 in Child. 

In America, Lord Thomas invariably goes to tell Eleanor of his decision 
himself and does not send a messenger as in Child C, E, F, H, and I. The 
lovers always consult their parents, never their sisters, as in Child A, B, F, 
G, and H. Gardner and Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mich, 37 contains the added 
injury of Thomas' seating Annet at his right, while Hudson, F-S Miss, E 
has a unique repetition of lines. The names of the heroine may vary all the 
way from Eleanor to Fairrellater and Fair Ellington, and the hero is called 
Jimmie Randolph in Virginia. Note that Cutting, Adirondack Cnty, 67 men- 
tions "Dunny's Well" running black. See Child E. 

For a very detailed discussion of the verbal variations in this song see 
SFLQ, I, #4, 25 ff. Reed Smith, SC Bids, no treats the history of the song, 
and Belden, MLN 9 XXII, 263, reviews the methods by which the counsel is 
asked. For a comparison of Percy's text and a South Atlantic States "poor 
buckra" version see C. E. Means in Outlook, September 1899, 12off. Tolman, 
JAFL, XXIX, 154 publishes a parody (many of which exist), and Mabel 



j6 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

Minor, PTFLS, X, 144 notes that the song is used as a play-party game in. 
Texas. 

74. FAIR MARGARET AND SWEET WILLIAM 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 1 34 / Belden, Mo F-S, 48 / Brewster, Bids Sgs Ind, 71 / Brown 
Coll / Bull Tenn FLS, VIII, #3, 66 / Chappell, F-S Rnke Alb, 25 / Child, V, 293 / Cox, F-S 
South, 65 / Cox, W. Va. School Journal and Educator, XLV, 378 / Cutting, Adirondack Cnty, 
64 / Davis, Trd Sid Va, 221 / Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 34 / Flanders, Vt F-S Bids, 213 / Focus, 
IV, 426 / Gardner and Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mich, 40 / Harper's Mgz (June, 1903), 272 / 
Haun, Cocke Cnty, 94 / Hudson, F-S Miss, 87 / Hudson, Spec Miss F-S, :j 1 1 / Hummel, Oz 
F-S I JAFL, XIX, 281; XXIII, 381 5 XXVIII, 154; XXX, 3035 XXXI, 74; XXXV, 340; 
XLVIII, 301 / Leach-Beck Mss. / Lunsford and Stringfield, 30 & j F-S So Mis, 2 / Luther, 
Amcns Their Sgs, 20 / MacKenzie, Bids Sea Sgs N Sc, 25 / MacKenzie, Quest Bid, 124 / Me Gill, 
F-S Ky Mts, 71 / Minish Mss. / Neely and Spargo, Tales Sgs So III, 141 / North American 
Review, CCXXVIII, 221 / Pound, Am Bids Sgs, 40 / Randolph, Oz F-S, I, 108 / Randolph, 
The Ozarks, 181 / Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mts, 103 / SharpC, Eng F-S So Aplchns, #*7 / 
SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplchns, I, 139 / Shearin and Combs, Ky Syllabus, 8 / SFLQ, II, 69 / 
Va FLS Bull, =[s 26, 8 10 / Wyman and Brockway, Lnsme Tunes, 94. 

Local Titles: Fair Margaret and Sweet William, False William, Lady Margaret (Marget, 
Maggie, Margot, etc., etc.), Lady Margaret's Ghost, Lady Maud's Ghost, Little Marget, 
Lyddy Margot, Lydia Marget, Pretty Polly and Sweet William, Sweet William, Sweet 
William's Bride, Sweet William and Lady Margaret, Sweet Willie, William and Margaret. 

Story Types: A: Sweet William, rising and dressing in blue, denies that 
he and Lady Margaret are in love and states that she will see his bride the 
next day. Margaret, after watching the wedding procession past her window, 
throws down her comb, leaves the room, and is never more seen alive. That 
night William sees Margaret's ghost at the foot of his bed in a dreamlike 
vision. (In some texts he also dreams of swine and blood.) The ghost asks 
how he likes his bride, and he replies that he loves the person at the foot 
of his bed far better. When William awakes, he tells his wife of the vision 
and goes to see Margaret. Her family shows him her body, and he kisses the 
corpse before dying himself. 

Examples: Belden (A), Davis (A), Gardner and Chickering. 

B : The story is the same as that of Type A, except that Margaret commits 
suicide by throwing herself from the window (or by some such means). The 
death is on-stage, instead of off-stage. 

Examples: Barry (A); Belden (B); Randolph, OzF-S (A). 

C: The story is the same as that of Type A, except that it is William's 
bride who has the dream. She tells it to William. 

Examples : Barry (B), Haun. 



A Critical) Bibliographical Study 77 

D: The usual story is told, but the off-stage actions of Margaret after she 
leaves the window are described. She has her mother and sister make her 
"bed and bind her head because she feels ill. She then dies of a broken heart. 
Examples : MacKenzie, Bids Sea Sgs N Sc. 

E: The usual story is told, except that Margaret is still alive when she 
comes to the foot of William's bed. 

Examples: JAFL, XXIII, 381. 

F: An incomplete text in which the ghost comes to the foot of the bed and 
blesses the sleeping lovers before going to the grave has been found. 
Examples: Minish Mss. (Sweet Willie, $3). 

Discussion: This song is very popular in America, but the New World 
texts are not very like any Child version. Generally (see Davis, Trd Bid Va, 
221), they follow Child A in the "such dreams" stanza; Child B in the con- 
versation of William and Margaret's ghost (but see Barry, Brit Bids Me, B 
and Haun, Cocke Cnty) ; and Child C in the fact the bride is not brown (a cor- 
ruption from 73 when it does occur). The puzzling opening scene of Child A 
(the talking on the hill) is generally dropped in America (but see Haun, 
Cocke Cnty, 94), and usually a scene of William rising and dressing in blue 
replaces it. The phrase "with the leave of my (wedded) lady" of the Child 
texts is frequently expanded (see Cox, F-S South, G and Sharp K, Eng F-S 
So Aplchns, A) to a formal asking of the wife's permission to visit the dead 
Margaret. 

Type B texts show the frequent trend toward the spectacular in the 
American ballad, and Type D is even more specific in the details of the death, 
at the same time revealing a change in narrative through the influence of 
convention. Type E is an excellent example of the American tendency to 
rationalize supernatural material, while Type F is an odd sentimentalization. 

The SharpK, op. cit., versions are exceptionally interesting. A, a Type A 
story, has a confused beginning and a ghost which appears to both William 
and the bride. In B, also Type A, the wife goes with William to see Margaret 
the next morning. In addition, the Flanders, Ft F-S Bids, version opens with 
two stanzas that begin, "If you're no woman for me, and I'm no man for 
you". And the whole Eddy text (J4FL, XXXV, 340) is worth note. 

This song has affinities with 73, other than those mentioned above. See 
Child, II, 200. In the Brewster, Bids Sgs Ind, 76, C text Margaret attends 
the wedding against the advice of her mother, as does Annet or Eleanor in 
73. The rest of the narrative of this version is the usual Type A sort. 



78 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

Some incomplete texts exist which, tell the story with no mention of the 
ghost. These skip the events between Margaret's suicide and William's 
awakening the day after his wedding. See the Leach-Beck Mss. 

75. LORD LOVEL 

Texts: Allan's Lone Star Ballads (Galveston, 1874), 31 / Anderson, Coll Bids Sgs, 27 / 
Barry, Brit Bids Me, 139 / Beadle's Dime Songs of the Olden Tradition (N.Y., 1863), 13 / 
Belden, Mo F-S, 52 / Brewster, Bids Sgs 2nd, 79 / Brown Coll / BFSSNE, I, 4 / Bull Tenn 
FLS, VIII, #3, 61 / Bull U SC, #162, #6 / CFLQ, V, 210 / Chappell, F-S Rnke Alb, 27 / 
Child, V, 294 / Child Mss. / "Celebrated Lord Lovel and Lady Nancy Bell", Comic Ballad argd 
by y.C.y.j (Oliver Ditson, Boston, 1857) / Cox, F-S South, 78 / Cox, Trd Bid W Va, 24 / Cox, 
W. Va. School Journal and Educator, XLIV, 358 / Cutting, Adirondack Cnty, 69 / Davis, Trd 
Bid Va, 240 / Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 39 / Everybody's Songster, (Sanford and Lott, Cleveland, 
1839) / Flanders, Vt F-S Bids, 215 / Focus, IV, 215 / Gardner, F-L Schoharie Hills, 203 / 
Gardner and Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mick, 43 / Guiding Song Songster (N.Y., 1865), 84 / 
Hadaway*s Select Songster (Portsmouth, N.H., 1832), 86 / Haun, Cocke Cnty, 91 / Hudson, 
F-S Miss, 90 / Hudson, F-T Miss, 16 / Hummel, Oz F-S / Clifton Johnson, What They Say 
in New England (Boston, 1897), 225 / Jones, F-L Mich, 5 / JAFL, XVIII, 291 ; XIX, 283; 
XXIII, 381 ; XXVI, 352; XXXV, 343 ; XLVIII, 303 / JFSS, VI, 31 / Linscott, F-S Old NE, 
233 / Mason, Cannon Cnty, 16 / McDonald, Selctd F-S Mo, 23 / McGill, F-S Ky Mts, 10 / 
Minish Mss. / Frank Moore's Personal and Political Ballads (N.Y., 1864), 321 / Frank Moore's 
Songs of the Soldiers (N.Y., 1864), 174 / Morris, F~S Fla, 417 / Musick, F-L Kirksville, 4 / New 
Pocket Song Book (N.Y., c. 1860), 20 / New York broadsides: c. 1855, J. Andrews; c. 1860, 
H. deMarsan / North American Review, CCXXVIII, 220 / Tony Pastor's New Union Song 
Book (cop. 1862), 66 / Pound, Am Bids Sgs, 4 / Pound, Nebr Syllabus, 9 / Randolph, OzF-S> 
I, 1 12 / Randolph, OzMtFlk, 193 / Sandburg, Am Sgbag, 70 / Scarborough, On Trail N F-S, 
55 / Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mts, 99 / Sharp C, EngF~S So Aplchns, # 18 / SharpK, EngF-S 
So Aplchns, I, 146 / Shay, Drawn from the Wood, 134 / Shoemaker, Mt Mnstly, 146 / Shoe- 
maker, No Pa Mnstly, 140 / Shearin and Combs, Ky Syllabus, 8 / Singer's Own Song Book 
(Woodstock, Vt., 1838), 9 / Bob Smith's Clown Song Book, 51 / SFLQ, II, 70; VIII, 150 / 
Reed Smith, SC Bids, 121 / Smith and Rufty, Am Antb Old Wrld Bids, 20 / Thompson, Bdy 
Bts Bnchs, 379 / Thomas, Sngin Gathrn, 38 / Va FLS Builds 210 / Carolyn Wells, A 
Parody Anthology, 326 / R.G. White's Poetry, Lyrical, Narrative and Satires of the Civil War 
(N.Y., 1866), 115. 

Local Tides; Lady Nancy, Lady Nancy Bell, Lord Lovel (Lovell, Lowell, Lovinder, Leven, 
Lover, etc.), Lord Lovel and (Lady) Nancy Bell (Nancibell), Lord Lovel and Lady Nancy, 
Nancy Bell and Lord Lover. 

Story Types; A: Lord Lovel tends his horse while Lady Nancy wishes him 
"good speed". He tells her he is going to see strange countries and says how 
long he will be gone. Sometimes, he says he is going for "too long" and that 
she will be dead when he gets back. Lovel leaves. He misses Nancy and 
comes home early. However, on arriving, he hears funeral bells and dis- 
covers his love has died. Dying of grief, he kisses the corpse. Usually, the 
rose-briar motif follows. 

Examples: Barry (A), Belden (C), Davis (A). 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study 79 

B : The story is the same as that of Type A, except that Lord Lovel returns 
after only two or three miles of travel when the ring on his finger "busts 
off" and his nose begins to bleed. Nancy's church-knell is underway before 
he is halfway back! Examples: Cox, F-S South (B). 

Discussion: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 146 prints a brief history of this ballad. 
It is very common in America, and practically all the versions that are over 
here follow Child H, a London broadside. Most of them agree with each 
other. This similarity of texts and the song's popularity is undoubtedly due 
to its frequent inclusion in pre-Civil War songbooks and broadsides. See the 
bibliography, 

Belden, Mo F-S, 52 states that the church name (St. Pancras) can be 
used to judge how close to print a version from oral tradition is. The name 
has taken a great number of forms, many of which are listed in the intro- 
ductory, descriptive essay in this study. 

Reed Smith has remarked that "the difference between reading it (Lord 
Lovel) as a poem and singing it is the difference between tragedy and 
comedy". (See SC Bids, 121). Davis, Trd Sid Va, 2401 also points out that 
the melodies are too light for the story matter and mitigate the tragedy. For 
this reason, the song has often been subject to parody. Typical burlesques 
appear in Barry, op. cit., 145; Belden, Mo F-S, 54; Cox, F-S South, 78; Cox, 
Trd Bid W Va, 28; and Davis, op. cit^ 258 (on Abe Lincoln). 

The conventional ending in Haun, Cocke Cnty, 91 finds one lover buried 
under an oak and the other under a pine. Their hands touch with the leaves. 
The Type A, Cox, F-S South, C text implies that Lovel has been false to 
Nancy and thus gives a more substantial reason for her death. The Type B 
text reflects the effect a cliche can have on the story of a ballad. The result 
is, of course, preposterous with respect to time. For a song with some similar- 
ities see BFSSNE, I, 4. 



76. THE LASS OF ROCH ROYAL 

Texts: Lass of Rocb Royal Story: Brown Coll / Combs, F-S Etats-Unis, 134 / Cox, F-S 
South, 83 / Cox, W. Va. School Journal and Educator, XLV, 347 / Haun, Cocke Cnty, 107. 

Examples of "Shoe My Foot" Stanzas: Anderson, Coll Bids Sgs, 29 / Barry, Brit Bids Me, 
149 / Belden, Mo F-S, 4808. / Brewster, Bids Sgs Ind, 92 / Bull ?enn FLS, II, #i, 23 / 
Cambiaire, Ea <Ienn Wstn Va Mt Bids, 72 / Chappell, F-S Rnke Alb, 128 / Child, III, 511 / 
Cox, F-S South, 87 / Davis, Trd Bid Va, 260 / Focus, III, 275 ; IV, 49 / Folk Lore Journal, VII, 
31 / Fuson, Bids Ky Hghlds, 131 / Garrison, Searcy Cnty, 33 / Henry, F-S So HgUds, 69 / 
Henry, Sgs Sng So Aplchns, 24, 175 6 / Hudson, F-S Miss, 91 / Hudson, F-T Miss, 21 / 
Hummel, OzF-S / Guy B. Johnson, John. Henry, 98 ff. / JAFL, IV, 156; XXII, 240; XXVI, 
181; XXVIII, 147; XLVT, 49 / Kolb, Treasury F-S, 40 / Mason, Cannon Cnty, 17 / Niles, 



8o British Traditional Ballad in North America 

Bids Crls Tgc Lgds, 6 / N.C. Booklet, XI, 29 / Randolph, Oz F-S, I, 1 1 5 / Richardson, Am Mt 
%5 37 1 Sandburg, Am Sgbag, 37, 98, 1267; Scarborough, Sgctcbr So Mts, 123 / SharpC, 
EngF-S So Aplc&ns, #s 56A, 61 A, 87, 9-{.C/ SharpK, EngF-S So Aplchns, II, #s 87, 94.0, 
109 A, 1 14 A/ Shearin and Combs, Ky Syllabus, 8 / Spaeth, Weep Some More My Lady, 
1 34 5 / Reed Smith, SC Bids, 1 52 3 IV a FLS Bull, #s 2 10. 

Local Titles: Fair Annie and Gregory, Lass of Roch Royal, Love Gregor, My Lady's 
Slipper, Sweet Annie of Roch Royal, Who Will Shoe My Pretty Little Feet ? (See also the 
list at the end of the Discussion.) 

Story Types: A: A girl with a new-born child goes to find her true love in 
a boat given her for the purpose by her father. A month later, when she 
reaches her lover's land and door, his mother answers her knock. The old 
woman accuses the girl of being a witch, etc., and, although the baby is 
freezing to death, will not believe that this is her son's sweetheart. She de- 
mands the love tokens, but, upon seeing them, says Gregory has another 
love now and slams the door. (At this point there is a mix-up of person, for 
the sleeping lover seems to be talking to the girl.) When Gregory awakes 
from his sleep, he tells his mother he has dreamed that his sweetheart was 
at the door. The mother relates what really happened. The lover curses her 
and races to the shore just in time to see his love's ship split in two drowning 
both her and their child. He then pulls the girl's body ashore and, after much 
mourning, dies of a broken heart. The "shoe my foot" sequence is at the 
start. Examples: Combs, Cox (A). 

B: The "shoe my foot" stanzas or stanza is often used as a song by itself, 
frequently with foreign material attached. 

Examples: Davis (A); Henry, F-S So Hghlds (A); Sandburg (B). 

C: These "shoe my foot" stanzas, divorced from the story, are put in the 
mouth of a man in Maine. 

Examples: Barry (A). 

D: This type is a combination of "careless love" lines, the ship and voyage 
vestiges of the story, the "shoe my foot" stanzas, and the refrain from 
Child 10. A girl's lover leaves her. She has her father build her a ship, follows 
him, and reaches the door of his home. His mother casts her out. It seems, 
she then finds her love dead in the sea. 

Examples: Haun. 

Discussion: There are few versions of this ballad in America, if the ex- 
tremely popular "shoe my foot" stanzas are discounted. The Type A texts 
follow Child D in story and detail, while Type D is a corruption of what was 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study 8 1 

probably the same material. Other lines have become attached to the tale, 
and the ending has been turned about in transmission. The text is a fine 
example of amalgamation and degeneration. 

"Shoe my foot" stanzas are common all over the country. Whether they 
can be fairly considered native to Child 76 is questionable. They stand alone 
as songs (Davis, Trd Bid Fa, A-U; Sandburg, Am Sgbag, B); stand in con- 
junction with foreign matter (Davis, op. cit., Appendix A-I, Cox, F-S South, 
413 ; Cambiaire, Ea lenn Wstn Va Mt Bids, 72; SharpC, EngF-S So A<plclns, 
270); and infiltrate into all sorts of places. Belden, Mo F-S, 55, 48off.; 
Davis, op. cit., 260; and Henry, F-S So Hghlds, 6jH. discuss these lines in 
America. For Americanization of the material, Scarborough, Sgctcbr So 
Mis, 124 (Honey Babe) and Odum and Johnson, Negro Workaday Songs 
(Who's Going to Buy Tour Whiskey 1) should be consulted, along with The 
Blue-eyed Boy printed in Belden, of. cit., 478. Of all the varied combinations 
of these stanzas with other material, perhaps the Chappell, F-S Rnke Alb, 
128 text is the most interesting. Here "shoe my foot" lines, the "dove" 
stanzas from Lady Alice (85), and the "my love is like a rose" stanzas that 
Burns adopted (See MLR, VI, 514) are combined into one song. Also check 
Davis, op. cit., Appendix D, p. 272. 

A list of songs frequently corrupted by "shoe my foot" is: Kitty Kline, 
The False True Lover, John Henry, John Hardy, Wild Bill Jones, The 
Gamblin* Man, Lord Randal, James Harris, I Truly Understand, Careless 
Love, The Foolish Girl, My Dearest Dear, The Storms Are on the Ocean, The 
True Lover's Farewell, The Rejected Lover, Cold Winter's Night, The False 
Young Man, The Irish Girl, Turtle Dove, Mother's Girl, He's Gone Away, 
Bright Day, Hush o Hush You'll Break My Heart, Carolina Mountains, a 
Negro Dancing Song. There are others. 



77. SWEET WILLIAM'S GHOST 

Texts: Brown Coll / Davis, FS Va / Flanders, Ft F-S Bids, 240; Greenleaf and Mansfield, 
Bids Sea Sgs Newfdld, 21 / Green Mountain Songster, 34 / North American Review, CCXXVTII, 
222 / Minish Mss. 

Local Titles: Lady Margaret, Lady Margaret and Sweet William. 

Story Types: A: Lady Margaret in her bower hears a sound and learns it 
is her true love William. She asks what token he has brought her, and he 
replies only his winding-sheet. He then leads her to his grave and shows her 
where he lies. She wishes to lie with him, but his parents are at his head and 
feet and three hell-hounds at his side. The hounds stand for drunkeness. 



82 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

pride, and tlie deluding of a maid. He embraces her, bids her goodnight, and 
wishes her good rest. The return of the troth is not mentioned. 
Examples : Greenleaf and Mansfield. 

B : The story is the same as that of Type A, except the girl does not seem 
to wish to lie with her ghost-lover and the parents and hounds are replaced 
by three deceived sweethearts, three bastards, and three maids to guide his 
soul. He is seeking the return of his unfulfilled troth, and she refuses to give 
it back until he takes her to Scotland and kisses or weds her. When he 
reveals he is a ghost, she accepts the separation and gives him her troth. 

Examples: Flanders. 

C: The usual story is told as far as the request for the kiss, but the lover 
frankly states that he is a ghost and is given his troth back so he can "go 
above". When the girl asks if she can lie with him, he says there is no room 
at his head or feet, but she can lie in his arms. The rooster then crows, and 
she knows that her hour to die has come. 

Examples: Minish Mss. (Sweet Willie $4). 

Discussion: The Type A and B American versions follow Child C in general 
story outline, though Type A seems to have lost the reason for the ghost's 
return. Type C is a new interpretation of the story, though similarities to 
Child D (in the place for Margaret to lie) can be noted. The quick return of 
the troth and the use of the rooster at the end of the tale (Child G) are not- 
able. For a discussion of variations that occur in other Child texts and of the 
folk-lore behind the story, see Child, II, 2269. 

The North American Review, CCXXVIII, 222 fragments are cited as lines 
from Clerk Saunders (69). This may be explainable in that some British 
texts of the latter have Sweet William's Ghost as an ending. See Child, II, 156. 

78. THE UNQUIET GRAVE 

lexts: Brown Coll / Davis, FS Va / Greenleaf and Mansfield, Bids Sea Sgs Newftdl, 23 / 
JAFL, LII, 53 / Niles, More Songs Hill-Flk, #9. 

Local Titles: The Auld Song from the Cow Head, The Unquiet Grave. 

Story Types: A: A girl loses her lover who is slain. She mourns on his 
grave. After a year and a day the lad's ghost rises and asks her why she 
refuses to let him be. She requests one kiss. However, he reminds her that 
a kiss would be fatal and tells her not to mourn for him, that he must leave 
her and all the world for the grave. 

Examples: Greenleaf and Mansfield; JAFL, LII, 53. 



A Critical, Bibliographical Study 83 

Discussion: The song is very rare in America. The stories in the New 
World follow Child B and C in the sex of the mourner, but the American 
ending is not in those British texts, although similar lines complete Child A 
andD. 

79. THE WIFE OF USHER'S WELL 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 449 (trace) / Belden, Mo J?-S, 55 / Brown Coll / Cambiaire, 
Ea Tenn Wstn Va Mt Bids, 121 / Child, V, 294 / Cox, F-S South, 88 / Cox, W. Va, School 
Journal and Educator, XLIV, 388; XLV, 1 1 / Davis, Trd Bid Va, 279 / Duncan, No Hamilton 
Cnty, 58 / Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 46 / Fuson, Bids Ky Hghlds, 59 / Grapurchat, East Radford 
(Va.) State Teachers College, 8 25 '32 / Harper's Mgz (June 1904), 121 / Haun, Cocke 
Cnty, 104 / Henry, F-S So Hghlds, 71 / Hudson, F-S Miss, 93 / Hudson, F- T Miss, 17 / Hudson 
S/wJIfwJF-i^M/Hmni^ 

96; XLIV, 63 / McDonald, Slctd Mo F-S, 25 / McGill, F-S Ky Mts, 5 / Minish Mss. / Morris, 
F-S Fla, 421 / Niles, Anglo-Am Bid Stdy Bk, 14 / Niles, Bids Crls Tgc Lgds, 4 / Pound, Am 
Bids Sgs, 1 8 / Pound, Nebr Syllabus, io/ Randolph, OzF-S, I, 122 / Randolph, The Ozarks, 
1 80 / Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mts, 167 / SharpC, Eng F-S So Aplcbns,^iig / SharpK, Eng 
F-S So Aplchns, I, 150 / Shearin and Combs, Ky Syllabus, 9 / SFLQ, VIII, 152 / Smith and 
Rufty, Am Anth Old Wrld Bids, 23 / Va FLS Bull, rfcs 3-5, 9 / Wheeler, Ky Mt F-S, 14 / 
WymanMss. # 1 ^ 

Local Titles: A Moravian Song, A Woman Lived in a Far Country, Children's Song, Cruel 
Mother, The Beautiful Bride, The Ladie Bright, The Lady and the Children Three, The Lady 
Gains, The (A) Lady Gay, The Lone Widow, The Three Babies, (The) Three (Little) Babes. 

Story Types: A: A mother sends her three children away to school in the 
north. They die there. Usually she grieves and prays for their return. At 
Christmas time they do come back. However, when she prepares a feast and 
a fine bed for them, they refuse her efforts to please them saying that such 
things are worldly pride and that the Saviour forbids such indulgence. At 
dawn or on the summons of the Saviour they leave, telling the mother her 
tears but wet their winding sheets. 

Examples: Cox (A), Davis (E), McGill. 

B : The story is identical to that of Type A, but the inference is made by 
the children that it was the mother's "proud heart" that caused their 
deaths. Examples : SharpK (A, B). 

Discussion: Zielonko, Some American Variants of Child Ballads , io4ff. and 
Belden, Mo F-S, 55 6 discuss the American variations of this song in some 
detail. The latter lists six points in which the most common American texts 
differ from the Child A, B, C series: I. The revenants are children, often 
girls, and not grown boys ; 2. there is no cursing of the waters, but the mother 
usually prays for the children's return; 3. the ghosts refuse earthly pleasures 
in some cases because the Saviour stands yonder; 4. the recall of the ghosts 



84 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

at the crowing of the cocks is omitted or occurs when the "chickens" crow, 
except in Irish texts; 5. the children leave home to learn their gramarye; 
6. the folk idea that tears for the dead wet the winding sheets and disturb the 
peace is present. In addition, the fact that the ghostly nature of the children 
is frequently assumed in America without being definitely stated (see Davis, 
Trd Bid Fa, A) is an interesting proof of the belief in the "flesh and blood" 
reality of spirits. See Wimberly, Folklore in English and. Scottish Popular 
Ballads, 226. Zielonko, op. cit., 109 notes in connection with these points 
that there are three narrative elements interwoven into the American texts : 
the Unquiet Grave theme of the corpse disturbed by the mourning of the 
living; the moralistic punishment of pride theme from Child C; and the 
theme of the transformation of one dead man into three children. 

The Type B texts seem to represent a confusion of the story, so that the 
new end contradicts the opening stanza in a way somewhat similar to the 
Edward-Twa Brothers fusion noted under Child 13 and 49. Other American 
variations worth note can be found in Shearin and Combs, Ky Syllabus, 9 
where the children are sent to America and die on shipboard; in George P. 
Jackson's Spiritual Folk Songs of Early America, 28, where it is pointed out 
that The Romish Lady has had an influence on the SharpK, Eng F-S So 
Aplcbns, version; in the incremental Haun, Co eke Cnty, 104 text; in Cox, 
F-S South, A text where the children return at New Year's time rather than 
Christmas time; and in the Minish Mss. where the children tell the mother 
her tears will not wet their winding-sheets. 

Belden, op. cit., 56 suspects a printed source for the American texts be- 
cause of their marked similarities. 

81. LITTLE MUSGRAVE AND LADY BARNARD 

Texts: The American Songster (Cozzens, N.Y.) / Barry, JBrit Bids Me, 150 / Belden, Mo 
F-S,tfl&rownCo\ll BFSSNE, III, 6; IV, 12; VII, 9/ Bull (75C#i62,#7/ Cambiaire, 
Ea Ttnn Wstn Va Mt Bids, 50 / Chappell, F-S Rnke Alb, 29 / Cox, F-S South, 94 / Creighton, 
Sgs Bids N Sc, 1 1 / Davis, Trd Bid Fa, 289 / Duncan, No Hamilton Cnty, 63 / Eddy, Bids 
Sgs Ohio, 48 / Flanders, New Gn Mt Sgstr, 135 / Fuson, Bids Ky Hgblds, 52 / Gardner and 
Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mich, 46 / Grapurcbat, East Radford (Va.) State Teachers College, 
8 25 '32 / Henry, F-S So Hgblds, 73 / Henry, Sgs Sng So Aplcbns, 65 / JAFL, XXIII, 
371 ; XXV, 182; XXX, 309; XLII, 265 / MacKenzie, Bids Sea Sgs N Sc, 27 / MacKenzie, 
Quest Bid, 14, 88 / Notes from ike Pine Mt. Settlement School, Harlan County, Ky., 1935, VII, 
:Ji/Perry, CarterCnty, 1 05 / PMLA, XXXIX, 470 /Randolph, Oz F-S, 1, 124 /Scarborough, 
Sgctcbr So Mts, 143 / SharpC, Eng F-S So Aplcbns, #20 / Sharp K, Eng F-S So Aplcbns, I, 
161 / Shearin and Combs, Ky Syllabus, 8 / Reed Smith, SC Bids, 125 / Smith and Rufty, Am 
Antb Old Wrld Bids, 26 / Va FLS Bull, #s 3, 6, 7, 9, 11 / Univ. West Virginia Studies, III 
(Philological Papers, II), 14 / Wyman and Brockway, 20 Ky Mt Sgs, 22, 62. Korson, Pa Sgs 
Lgds, 32. 



A Critical, Bibliographical Study 85 

Local Titles: Lord Banner, Lord Daniel, Lord Darnell, Lord Darnold, Lord Valley, Lord 
Vanover, Lord Arnold (Banner, Daniel, Donald, Orland, Vanner)'s Wife, Little (Young) 
Matthew (Mathy, Matha, Matly, Mose) Grove(s), Little Mosie Grove (Grew), Little Musgrave 
and Lady Barnswell, The Red Rover. 

Story Types: A: Matthew Groves attends church or a ball and catches the 
eye of Lord Arnold's wife who, even though pregnant in some versions, 
makes advances toward him and asks him to sleep with her that night. 
When he sees by the ring on her finger that she is the Lord's wife, he refuses, 
but consents when she assures him her husband is away. A page overhears 
their plans and hurries off to inform the Lord. After blowing on his bugle 
(sometimes it is a friend of Matthew's in the Lord's retinue who blows the 
bugle against orders), Lord Arnold surprises the sleeping lovers in bed. He 
offers Matthew the best sword and then kills him in a fair fight. In some 
texts he regrets his act. However, he then slays his wife when she tells him 
she loves Groves better than she loves him. In a group of texts the Lord 
plans suicide or says he will die in the near future. 

Examples: Barry (Aa), Belden, Davis (A), Fuson. 

B : The story is the same as that of Type A, but it is mentioned at the end 
that the Lord shall "be hanged tomorrow". 

Examples: Chappell, Creighton, Smith (A). 

C: The story is the same as that of Type A, but there is no cajoling of the 
lover by the lady or refusal by Matthew at the start. He embraces her at 
once, when she makes advances toward him. The page, seeing this, departs. 
Examples: Henry, F-S So HgUds (A). 

Discussion: This ballad, as it has a pure oral tradition in America, offers 
the scholar an excellent subject for study. Several of the texts are out- 
standing, and identical versions have been found as far apart as Maine and 
Missouri (See Barry, Brit Bids Me, 17711. and JAFL, XXX, 315). Barry, 
op. cit. 9 iSoff. prints a long discussion of the ballad as a means of revealing 
how folk songs develop. His contention is that there are two versions (the 
Banner and the Arnold or Daniel: one containing the bugle blowing and the 
"away, Musgrave, away" refrain, the other mentioning King Henry) which 
split in Britain and developed independently in America. In connection with 
this argument, he points out (p. 182) that the American texts are more vivid 
and incisive than Child's and probably older and decides that the song has 
been in this country over three hundred years. 

The idea of a pre-American split is attacked point-blank by Helen Petti- 
grew (Univ. of West Virginia Studies III, Philological Papers II, 8ff.) She 



86 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

also disagrees with Barry's interpretation of the trip of the husband and 
discusses the American versions and variants farther. She indicates how few 
New World texts have the lady pregnant and that none (as do eight Child 
texts) have Musgrave blame the lady for the compromising situation when 
the lovers are discovered. In addition, she points out that the horn-blowing 
is still frequently retained over here (See MacKenzie, Bids Sea Sgs N Sc, A, 
C; Gardner and Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mick; Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mts, 
A; SharpK, Eng F-S So A-plchns, F) and attributes the visit to King Henry 
to American romanticization. 

The American texts vary somewhat in their inclusion and exclusion of 
material, as do those in Child. Type A stories may begin at church (Child A,C, 
H), at a ball (BFSSNE, III, 6), or playing ball (Child D, E, K, L), although 
the letter-writing (Child G) does not seem to be in America. (Belden, Mo F-S 
58 points out that the church-beginning characterizes southern American 
texts, while the playing at ball, the northern.) The attempts to bribe the 
page are missing (Child C-F, H-L, O). The bugle-blowing scenes are faulty 
and, if included, disagree as to whether the Lord himself or a friend of 
Musgrave's warns the lover against orders. The Lord may or may not regret 
his act, and a few times, as in Child C and G, he commits suicide. Musgrave's 
wife is omitted, but the pregnancy of Lady Barnard is frequently retained. 
The Cambiaire, Ea Tenn Wstn Va Mt Bids, 50 version finds a close friend 
of the family taking the page's role. 

Type B follows the ending of Child E, while Type C is perhaps closer to the 
spirit of the British texts than the other American versions. The lady is 
never as aggressive in England as she is on this side of the ocean. Never- 
theless, no American song that I have seen contains the barbaric torture to 
be found in Child A, nor do any indicate clearly a past affair between the 
lovers. However, see Type C. 

For a discussion of this ballad in Jamaica see PMLA, XXXIX, 455 ff. 

The song is generally considered "dirty" by folk-singers. Check the head- 
notes in Randolph, Oz F-S 9 I, 



83. CHILD MAURICE 

Texts: Greenleaf and Mansfield, Bids Sea Sgs Newfdld, 25. 
Local Titles: Gil Morissy. 

Story Types: A: A lady receives a letter from Gil Morissy and is so pleased 
her husband gets very jealous. He goes outside and finds the youth combing 
his yellow hair, challenges him to a battle, and kills him. The lady, who was 



A Critical ', Bibliographical Study 87 

the boy's mother, laments over the grave. The husband regrets his rash act 
on hearing the lament. 

Examples : Greenleaf and Mansfield. 

Discussion: The Canadian version, which was recited and not sung, is con- 
densed, but fairly inclusive in its coverage of the story outline. 

84. BONNY BARBARA ALLEN 

Texts: Adventure Mgz, 4 lo '25, 4 10 '26 / Allen, Cowboy Lore, j^j American Songster 
(Kenedy, Baltimore, 1836), 7 / Anderson, Coll Bids Sgs, 33 / Barry, Brit Bids Me, 195 / 
Berea Quarterly, XVIII, 12 / Beadle's Dime Songs of the Olden lime (N.Y., 1863), 38 / Belden, 
Mo F-S, 60 / Boletin Latino Americano de Musica, V, 280 / Botkin, Treasry Am F-L, 820 / 
Botsford, Sgs of Amcas, 26 / Brewster, Bids Sgs 2nd, 99 / Brown Coll / Bull Tenn FLS, II, 
# i, 234; IV, #3, 73 / Bull U SCdfr 162, #8 / Cambiaire, Ea Tenn Wstn Va Mt Bids, 66 / 
Chappell, F-S Rnke Alb, 32 / Charley Fox's MinstreVs Companion (Turner & Fisher, Phila- 
delphia) / Cox, F-S South, 96 / Cox, W. Va. School Journal and Educator, XLIV, 305 / Crab- 
tree, Overton Cnty, 204 / Davis, Trd Bid Va, 302 / Downes and Siegmeister, Treasry Am Sg, 
34 / Duncan, No Hamilton Cnty, 69 / Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 53 / Everybody's Songster (Sanford 
and Lott, Cleveland, 1839) / Farm Life, March 1927 / Fauset, F-L N Sc, 1 13 / Focus, III, 445 ; 
IV, 10 1, 1 60; V, 282 / The Forget-me-not Songster (Turner & Fisher, Philadelphia), 129 / 
Fuson, Bids Ky Hghlds, 47 / Gardner and Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mich, 50 / Gordon, F-S 
Am, 69 / Grapurchat, East Radford (Va.) State Teachers College, 8 25 '32 / Greenleaf and 
Mansfield, Bids Sea SgsNewfdld, 26 / Harper's Mgz (June 1888), 35; (May 1915), 907 / Haun, 
Cocke Cnty, 62 / Heart Songs, 247 / Henry, Beech Mt F-S, 12 / Henry, F-S So Hghlds, 82 / 
Henry, Sgs Sng So Aplchns, 248 / Hudson, F-S Miss, 95 / Hudson, F-T Miss, 14 / Hudson, 
Spec Miss F-S, # 13 / Hummel, Oz F-S / Jones, F-L Mich, 5 / JAFL, VI, 132; XIX, 286; 
XX, 256; XXII, 63; XXVI, 352; XXVIII, 144; XXIX, 160, 1985 XXXV, 343; XXXIX, 
97, 211 ; XLII, 268, 303; XLV, 13; XLVI, 28; XLVIII, 310; XLIX, 207; LII, 77 / JFSS, 
I, 265 / Kennedy, Effects Isolation, 320 / Ky Cnties Mss. / Kincaid, Fav Mt Bids, 14 / Kolb, 
Treasry F-S, 2 / Leach-Beck Mss. / Linscott, F-S Old NE, 163 / Lomax, Adv Bid Hunter, 243 / 
Luther, Amcns Their Sgs, 15 / Macintosh, So III F-S, 7 1 MacKenzie, Bids Sea Sgs N Sc, 35 / 
MacKenzie, Quest Bid, 100 / Mason, Cannon Cnty, 23 / McDonald, SelctdF-S Mo, 30 / McGill, 
F-S Ky Mts, 40 / Minish Mss. / Musical Quarterly, II, 121 5 IV, 296 / Morris, F-S Fla, 428 / 
Musick, F-L Kirksmlle, 6 / Neal, Brown Cnty, 52 / Neely and Spargo, Tales Sgs So III, 137 / 
N.J. Journal Educ., XVI, #6, 7 / N.Y. broadside: H. J. Wehman #395, Harvard Univ. 
Library / NTFLQ, II, 55; IV, ijg/N.r. Times, 10-9- '27; Niles, Anglo-Am Bid Stdy Bk, 
18 / Niles, More Sgs Hill-Flk, 6 / North American Review, CCXXVIII, 219-20 / Owens, 
Studies Tex F-S, 30 / 162 Popular Songs (Vickery, Augusta, 1895) / Ozark Life V, #7 / 
Perry, Carter Cnty, 140 / Pound, Am Bids Sgs, 7 / Pound, Nehr Syllabus, 9 / PTFLS, VII, 
in;X, i6l&ame,LandSddleBags, 115 / Randolph, 0* F-S,1, 126/Randolph, TbeOzarks, 
183 / Rayburn, Oz Cntry, 232 / Sandburg, Am Sgbag, 57 / Scarborough, On Trail N F-S, 59 / 
Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mts, 83 / Scott, Sing Am, 56 / Sewanee Review, XIX, 315; SharpC, Eng 
F-S So Aplchns, #21 / SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplchns, I, 191 / Shearin and Combs, Ky 
Syllabus, 8 / Shoemaker, Mt Mnstly, 127 / Shoemaker, No Pa Mnstly, 122 / SFLQ, II, ji / 
Reed Smith, SC Bids, 129 / Smith and Rufty, Am Anth Old Wrld Bids, 30 / Stout, F-L la, 
$/The Pearl Songster (Huestis, N.Y., 1846), 104 / The Southern Warbler (Charleston, 1845), 



88 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

275 / The Virginia Warbler (Richmond, 1845), 275 / The Vagabonds, Old Cabin Songs for 
Fiddle and Bow, n. d., 7 / Thomas, Devil's Ditties, 94 / Thomas, Sngin Gatbrn, 6 /Thompson, 
Bdy Bts Brtcbs, 377 / Trifet's Monthly Budget of Music, 1892 / Univ. of Virginia Mgz (April 
1913), 329 / Va FLS Butt, #s 210 / Wheeler, Ky Mt F-S, 39 / Wilson, Bckaods Am, 99 / 
Wyman and Brockway, Lnsme Tunes, i. 

Local Titles: Ballet of Barbara Allen, Barbara Allen (both names with many variants), 
Barbara Allen's Cruelty, Barbara Ellen, Barbarous Ellen, Edelin, Hard-hearted Barbery 
Ellen, (The Sad Ballet of) Little Johnnie Green, Sir John Graham, The Love of Barbara 
Allen. 

Story Types: A: A young man lies on his death-bed for the love of Barbara 
Allen. He requests a servant to bring her to him (the man usually delivers 
the message in person, though in some texts a letter is sent). She comes with- 
out too much enthusiasm and remarks that the lover looks as though he 
were dying. In response to his pleadings, she accuses him of slighting her in 
tavern-toasting or at a ball. He defends himself, but she continues to scorn 
him. He dies of remorse. Later, when she hears the funeral bells, she repents 
and dies. Sometimes the rose-briar theme is added. 

Examples: Cox, F-S South (E); Davis (A); SharpK (A). 

B : The story is like that of Type A, but the lover accepts Barbara's scorn 
without offering a defense to any accusations that are stated. Not all these 
texts have accusations. 

Examples: Belden (K), Brewster (A), Davis (J). 

C: The same story as that of Type A, but the lover acknowledges the 
justice of Barbara's charge. 

Examples: JAFL, XX, 256. 

D: The story may follow Type A or B, but the lover curses Barbara in the 
end. Examples: Brewster (D), Eddy (A), Davis (Q). 

E: This type resembles Type D, but Barbara curses the lover in return. 
Examples: Davis (P). 

F: The story may be of either the A or B type, but the man lavishes gifts 
on Barbara in direct contrast to her cruelty. 

Examples: Davis (S, T); JAFL, XXIX, 161; NTFLQ, II, 55. 

G: The story is like that of Type A or B, although the mother (or both 
parents) is usually blamed by Barbara for causing her to be cruel and the 
mother (or both mothers) joins the lovers in death. 

Examples: Davis (W); Scarborough, 
Sgctchr So Mts (F); SharpK (B, C). 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study 89 

H : The story is the same as that of Type A, but a view is given of the 
courtship where Sir James the Graeme (See Child 213) tells Barbara she 
will be mistress of seven ships if she marries him. He then slights her at the 
tavern, and the regular story ensues. 

Examples: MacKenzie, Bids Sea Sgs N Sc (A). 

I : A Negro version exists which, in its fragmentary form, reveals that 
"Boberick Allen" is a man. The other girls can't see why "I" follow him. He 
goes to town and back attempting to see "me" follow him, but he can't be- 
cause "I was away somewhere". 

Examples: PTFLS, VII, m ; X, 149 (C). 

Discussion: The popularity of this song is undoubtedly due to its inclusion 
in ten or more early nineteenth century songbooks and on innumerable 
broadsides. Certainly it is extreme in its number of texts and minor varia- 
tions, although the basic story outline is amazingly consistent. 

In America, the girl's name seldom varies much beyond the to-be-expected 
spelling changes, but that of her lover takes many forms: the first name 
may be William, Willie, James, Jemmy, Jimmy, John, etc.; and the last 
name, often not given, Grove, Groves, Green, Grame, Graham, Hilliard, 
Ryley, Rosie, etc. The rose-briar motif is frequently found, even though it 
is not in Child's texts, sometimes with the names Lord Thomas and Fair 
Eleanor (Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, F) or Sweet William being present as well. If 
this ending is lacking, another conventional close such as the "turtle dove and 
sparrow" stanza ( SharpK, Eng F-S Aplcbns, D) or "a warning to all virgins" 
(Davis, Trd Bid 7 a, M) usually is substituted. The time of year is most often 
May as in Child B, but Martinmas (Child A) and autumn (Gardner and 
Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mich) are not uncommon. For detailed discussions 
of various texts of this song, see Davis, op. cit., 3024; C. A. Smith in the 
Mttsical Quarterly, II, 109; and MacKenzie, Bids Sea Sgs N Sc, 35 in par- 
ticular. However, most of the early editors devote some time to this ballad. 

The important narrative changes are included in the story types above. 
The main story variations center about the actions of Barbara and her lover 
concerning the accusation, defense, and parting. The Child story is simpler 
than that of most of the American versions. The curse of thelover on Barbara > 
the lavishing of gifts by the lover on Barbara, Barbara's curse of the lover, 
the lover's acknowledgement of the justice of Barbara's charges, the on- 
stage views of the courtship, the parental problems, and the suicide of the 
motter(s) are all absent in Child and enter with the broadside and songbook 
texts and the subsequent widespread oral tradition. The mitigation of the 



90 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

cruelty reflected in Types C and G is typical. Type I reflects a complete 
degeneration and has been discussed in my descriptive essay. In general, in 
America,, Barbara is remorseful, the lover denies the slighting or mention 
of the slighting is omitted, and the lover accepts his fate objectively more or 
less as in Child A and B. 

Other minor, but notable, variations include the attempt of the lover to 
embrace Barbara, who avoids him, in some texts, by "skipping all over the 
room" (see SharpK, op. cit., B); Barbara's riding out of town on a white 
horse, the information that she is "a poor blacksmith's daughter" and her 
lover "the richest man in Stonington" being included (see Thompson, Bdy 
Bts Brtcbs, 379); the basin of blood or tears by the bed (see the Mich., Me., 
Newf., and other northern versions); and the shift of person (first to third) 
by the narrator (see Davis, op. cit., D; Gardner and Chickering, Bids Sgs So 
Mich, 50; and Child B). 

Newell, Games and Songs of American Children, 78 cites Barbara Allen as 
an old New England child's game and evening party dance. He gives no text. 
Also see Botkin, Am Play- Party Sg, 58. 

Cambiaire, Ea Tenn Wstn Va Mt Bids, 68 notes that there is a very old 
Spanish romance with the same theme. However, the motif is a universally 
popular one. See WF, VIII, 371 for a Serbian variation. 



85. LADY ALICE 

Texts: Anderson, Coll Bids Sgs, 44 / Barry, Brit Bids Me, 452 (trace) / Brown Coll / Bull 
lenn FLS, IV, #3, 75 / Bull U SC # 162, #9 / Cambiaire, Ea Venn Wstn Va Mt Bids, 76 / 
Chappell, F-S Rnke Alb, 33 / Child, II, 279 / Combs, F-S Ky HgUds, 8 / Cox, F-S South, no / 
Cox, W. Va. School Journal and Educator, XLVI, 124 / Crabtree, Overton Cnty, 125 / Davis, 
Trd Bid Va, 346 / Focus, III, 154; IV, $o / Gardner and Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mich, 53 / 
Haun, Cocke Cnty, 71 / Henry, Beech MtF-S, 2 / Henry, F-S So Hgblds, 89 / Henry, Sgs Sng 
So Aplcbns, 47 / Hudson, F-S Miss, 107 / Hudson, F-T Miss, 7 / Hudson, Spec Miss F-S, 
#14 / JAFL, XXVIII, 1515 XXXII, 500; XXXIX, 1025 LII, 47; LVIII, 75 / Morris, F-S 
Fla, 441 / N. T. 'Times Mgz, 1 1 17 '40 / Perry, Carter Cnty, 201 / Randolph, OzF-S, I, I39/ 
Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mts, 1 17 / Sharp C, EngF-S So Aplchns, 4^22 / SharpK, EngF-S So 
Aplchns, I, 196 / Reed Smith, SC Bids, 142 / The Survey, XXXIII, 373 / Va FLS Bull, 

#82-10. 

Local titles: A Lover's Farewell, Johnny (John) Collins, John Harman, George Collins 
(Collands, Colon, Colcman, Allien, Promcr, Collen, Collum, Carey, Collie), Giles Collins, 
Young Collins. 

Story Types: A: Johnny Collins rides out one day and meets a sweetheart 
washing a white marble stone. (She is his fairy love.) She warns him of his 
impending death. He leaps in the water and swims homeward. Convinced 
that he will die that night, Collins requests to be buried by the marble stone. 



A Critical, Bibliographical Study 91 

After lie dies, his mortal true-love sees the funeral coming. She halts the 
procession, kisses the corpse, and trims her own shroud before dying. 
Examples: Cox, F-S South (A, B); JAFL, LVIII, 75; Davis (A, B). 

B : Giles Collins comes home one night, is taken ill, and dies. His sweet- 
heart, upon hearing the news, goes to his grave, opens the coffin, and kisses 
him .Her mother tries to be philosophical about the affair, but to no avail. 
Examples: Cox, F-S South, (C, D); Davis (C, D); SharpK (A). 

C: The story follows that of Type B at the start. However, the girl inter- 
rupts the funeral and then joins her lover in death. The lily-north wind motif 
(see Child B) is often in this version. 

Examples : Hudson, F-S Miss (A). 

D : A lyric song rises from the stanza so often found in Lady Alice about 
the "snow-white dove" on "yonder pine" mourning for his love. A second 
stanza of the "go dig my grave wide and deep" sort completes the lyric. 
Examples: Gardner and Chickering. 

Discussion: Samuel P. Bayard, using Barbara M. Cra'ster's article (JFSS 
IV, 106) for leads, states (JAFL, LVIII, 73 ff.) convincingly that Johnny 
Collins as it is printed by him (p. 75. See also Cox, F-S South, A and B) re- 
presents the full form of the early European Clerk Colmll story infiltrated 
by ballad conventionality and Celtic lore. The British Clerk Colmll (Child 42), 
the Giles Collins versions of Lady Alice, and the abbreviated Johnny Collins 
version of the same song can be considered to tell only portions of the original 
narrative. Moreover, in modern versions of Johnny Collins an attempt has 
been made by folk-singers who have forgotten the meaning of the old story 
to rationalize the supernatural lover and the mortal girl who mourns 
Johnny's death to be one person. 

The original story behind Johnny Collins, Clerk Colvill and Giles Collins 
"fragments" then is that of a man who renounces his fairy lover for a mortal 
girl, meets the fairy, and learns he is to have his life exacted as revenge for 
his faithlessness. (Bayard conjectures that the elf-woman has been replaced 
by a mermaid in Clerk Colvill and by "a washer at the ford" in Johnny 
Collins, the latter entering the story from Gaelic lore while the ballad existed 
in Ireland. Harbison Parker, JAFL, LX, 265 ft, considers incorrect a belief 
in either the Irish tradition of the songs or the Gaelic banshee characteristics 
of the supernatural lover and states convincingly (to the satisfaction of Dr. 
Bayard, I understand) that a Scandanavian-Shetland-Orkney-Scottish 



92 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

series of locales and the accompanying selkie lore accounts for the actions 
of the mermaid or fairy lover and, in Clerk Colvill, possibly even for the title 
itself.) In any case, after embracing his mistress the young man swims ashore 
and goes home, where he is, quite naturally, apprehensive that he is about 
to die. He requests to be buried near the stone at the foot of the fairy hilL 
He then dies. His mortal lover sees the funeral, stops the procession when 
she learns the dead person is her lover, and states that she too will die of a 
broken heart. 

Gardner and Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mich, 53 print the "dove and pine" 
stanza that is so frequently found at the end of the American texts of Lady 
Alice and another conventional phrase as a song (see Type D) derived from 
Lady Alice. Though these conventional "dove" phrases are of the sort that 
might derive from any number of sources (see JAFL, XXXIX, 149 and 
Thomas, Sngin Gathrn, 34), Gardner and Chickering put forth a fairly con- 
vincing defense of their stand. The "dove" stanza does appear in Child 85 
in West Virginia (Cox, F-S South), Virginia (Davis, Trd Bid Fa), Mississippi 
(Hudson, F-S Miss), North Carolina (Henry, Sgs Sng So Apkhns), etc. as well 
as in the JAFL, XXXIX, 104 and XXVIII, 152 texts. See Gardner and 
Chickering, op. cit., for other references. 

Types A and B are the usual American forms of the story, while Type C 
follows the Child A, B story closely and utilizes the conventional ending of 
B. See also Child, III, 515. 

There are many parodies of the song, and one version, Giles Scroggins, 
was a great favorite in early nineteenth century America. See Davis, op. cit., 
352; Randolph, OzF-S, I, 140; Heart Songs, 246; The New England Pocket 
Songster (Woodstock, Vt.); The Singer's Own Book (Woodstock, Vt., 1838); 
The Songster's Companion (Brattleborough, Vt., 1815); The Isaiah Thomas 
Collection in Worcester, Mass., #95; and Worthington Ford, Broadside 
Bids, etc. Mass, #3126. 

The Randolph, op. cit., I version, though called George Collins and con- 
taining the "dove 55 stanzas like so many of the Type B stories, seems to be 
closer to Johnny Collins in narrative. 

86. YOUNG BENJIE 

Barry, Brit Bids Me, 453 reports that a Maine woman recognized this 
ballad as one she had heard in her childhood in Ireland. 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study 93 

87. PRINCE ROBERT 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 453 (trace) / Combs, F-S Etats-Unis, 138. 
Local Titles: Harry Saunders. 

Story Types: A: A man marries against his mother's wishes. Leaving his 
bride at his new home, he returns to visit his mother. She poisons him. His 
wif e, when he does not return, rides to the mother's home and interrupts the 
funeral. She requests her husband's watch and chain, but is perfectly willing 
to forfeit his money and land. The mother refuses to grant the request, and 
the girl falls to kissing the corpse. She collapses and dies of a broken heart. 

Examples: Combs. 

Discussion: The Kentucky text, although in it the ring is replaced by the 
watch and chain and the poisoned wine by tea, is similar to the Child texts 
in story. However, the rose-briar motif, found in Child A and B, is absent. 

Barry, Brit Bids Me, 454 notes that a Maine women recognized the song 
as one she heard in her youth in Ireland. 

88. YOUNG JOHNSTONE 
Texts: MacKenzie, Bids Sea Sgs N Sc, 4.1. 
Local Titles: Johnson and Coldwell, Johnson and the Colonel. 

Story Types: A: Johnson kills the Colonel after the latter has made slur- 
ring remarks about Johnson's sister. He then flees to this sister's house, but 
when she says that he will surely be hanged in the morning he rides off to 
the home of his true-love, the Colonel's sister. His sweetheart hides him. 
When the King's guards come after Johnson and describe him, his hawks, 
and his hounds to the girl, she tells them that he passed the house earlier. 
After they hasten off, she goes to tell Johnson of her service, startles the 
sleeping man, and is stabbed. He immediately regrets his rash and unplanned 
act and promises her the best doctors. However, she dies, nobly. 
Examples: MacKenzie (A). 

B : The story is the same as that of Type A. However, Johnson goes in 
sequence to his mother, sister, and sweetheart. Each asks him where he has 
been. To each he replies "at the state house teaching young Clark to write". 
Each then tells him of a bloody dream she has had, and he is forced to confess 
the crime. Examples : MacKenzie (B). 

Discussion: MacKenzie, Bids Sea Sgs N Sc, 41 states that he cannot 
account for the variations that occur in his A text, although he points out 
that in the absence of the dream and of the description of the hawk, it re- 
sembles Child C. Type B is like Child D. 



94 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

Johnson's reply to the girl, when she asks him where he has been ("the 
young Clark to write" line) is also discussed here. 

90. JELLON GRAME 

Reed Smith prints this song in his list of American survivals of the Child 
ballads in America. See SFLQ, I, #2, 9 ii; Davis, FS Fa. 

92. BONNY BEE HOM 

SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplchns, I, 200 refers his readers to this ballad in 
connection with his version of The Lowlands of Holland. See also Combs, 
F-S Etats-Unis, 173 and Gray, Sgs Bids Me L'jks, 88. Also, check Child, II, 
317 (headnote) where similarities of certain stanzas in the two songs is noted. 

93. LAMKIN 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me> 200 / Brewster, Bids Sgs 2nd, 122 / Brown Coll / Bull Tenn 
FLS, VIII, # 3, 75 / ChappeU, F-S Rnke Alb, 76 / Child, III, 5 1 5 ; V, 295 / Davis, Trd Bid Va, 
354 / Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 59 / Gardner and Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mich, 313 / Marion H. 
Gray, Tbe Flight of the Ballad^ Woman's Department Club Ballad, Terre Haute, Part 3, 
4 10 '30, 4 I Henry, Beech Mt F-S, 20 / Henry, F-S So Hgblds, 91 / Henry, Sgs Sng So 
Aplclns, 62 / Jones, F-LMich, 5 / JAFL, XIII, 117; XXIX, 162; XXXV, 3445 XLIV, 61 ; 
XL VIII, 316; LII, 70 / Lmscott, F-S Old NE, 303 / E. H. McClure, McClures and Mayers 
(private), Detroit, '42, 3 / N. J, Journal Educ., XIX, 4J= i, 9 / Perry, Carter Cnty, 205 / 
Randolph, 0% F-S, 1, 141 / SharpC, EngF-S So Aplchns, #23 / SharpK, EngF-S So Aplcbns, 
I, 201 / SFLQ, V, 13.7 / V* FLS Bull, #s 3, 9. 

Local Titles: Boab King, Bolakin, Beau (Bow, Bo) Lamkin(s), Bold Lantern (Dunkins, . 
Hamkins), (The) False Lambkin, False Linfinni Lamkin, Lampktn, Ward Laznpkin, Young 
Alanthia, 

Story Types: A: Lamkin, a mason, does some work for a lord and is not 
paid. The lord, leaving home for a time, fears trouble. He orders his house 
sealed to protect his family. Lamkin, seeking revenge, gets in through some 
opening left by accident or with the assistance of a nurse. Most of the servants 
are away. At the nurse's advice, he hurts the baby in order to get the mother 
downstairs. When the lady of the house comes, Lamkin seizes her. She offers 
him gold and even her daughter in marriage to save her own life. But Lamkin 
scorns these bribes and gloats over his plan to murder her. He makes the 
nurse or the servants clean a silver basin to hold the lady's blood. The lord 
returns to find the house red with gore and only his daughter, who was 
warned by the mother to stay hidden, surviving. Lamkin is hung or burned, 
and the nurse, burned or hung. 

Examples: Davis (A), Linscott, SharpK (B). 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study 95 

B : The story is the same as that of Type A 5 but Lamkin, when not paid, 
builds a false window in the house. He enters through this window to 
commit the crimes. 

Examples: Gardner and Chickering (A); JAFL, LII, 70; Randolph. 

C: The story is abbreviated so that only the baby is slain, and it is his 
blood that is caught in the silver bowL 

Examples: JAFL, XIII, 117. 

D : The story is the same as that of Type A, except that it is suggested 
that there was a love affair between Lamkin and the lady before the mar- 
riage. Thus, Lamkin had sworn revenge on the lord for winning his girl. 
Lamkin gets in by persuading the nurse the baby is crying, and the nurse 
becomes innocently suspected and punished. 

Examples: Davis (B). 

Discussion: The American story is similar in basic outline to the Child B, 
C, F group (see Child, II, 320 i), although certain differences should be 
noted. The offer of the daughter's hand as a bribe, and the large role given 
the daughter (Child F, T, X) are common in America. The false window 
built by the mason (Child E) can also be found with: some frequency (Type 
B), while the. catching of the baby's blood in the bowl (Type C) seems to 
occur as a result of combined story degeneration and reconstruction. The 
Type D text does not appear much different from the usual Type A story. 
However, Davis, Trd Bid Va y 357 (headnote) makes clear that the singer 
believed that there had been- a love affair between the lady and the mason, 
although this conception is not consistent with the normal opening line, 
"Why need I reward Lampkin ?" The idea that the daughter, Betsy, is away 
at school and has to be sent for was also added as a footnote by the singer 
of this version. See Barry, Brit Bids Me, 204 for a textual study of seven 
American and British variants of the Child F version. 

Two American texts are worth particular attention. The Gardner and 
Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mich, 315, B version never gets as far as the murder 
or the hanging of Lamkin, and, although certainly not complete, is unusual 
as the most dramatically active portion is the forgotten portion. The Chappell, 
F-S Rnke All, 76 text contains a splice between the "spare me" lines of the 
lady and some love song on the general theme of the opening scene of 
Toung Htmting (Child 68). The seven resultant stanzas are pointless. 

Fannie Eckstrom (J4FL, LII, 74) offers Phillips Barry's explanation of 
the source of this song by means of the False Linfinn title. In Irish folklore, 



96 British Traditional Ballad in Nortb America 

a leper (called "white" man) could be cured by the blood of an innocent 
person collected in a silver bowl. Barry feels that the Irish mason, who was 
reputed to use human blood in the mixing of his cement, was rationalized 
into the ballad after the fear of lepers had vanished. 

For a discussion of the change in names from Bold Lamkin to Boab King, 
see Henry, F-S So Hghlds, 91. 

95. THE MAID FREED FROM THE GALLOWS 

Texts: American Speech, I, 247 / Anderson, Coll Bids Sgs, 48 / Barry, Brit Bids Me, 206, 
381 / Belden, Mo F-S, XV, 66 / Boletin Latino Americano de Musica, V, 281 / Botkin, Treasry 
Am F-L, 822 / Brown Coll / Bull U SC# 162, # 10 / Cambiaire, Ea Tenn Wstn Va Mt Bids, 
15 / Chappell, F-S Rnke Alb, 35 / Child, V, 296 / Cox, F-S South, 115; Cox, Trd Bid W Va, 
29 / Cox, W. Va. School Journal and Educator, XLV, 297 / Davis, Trd Bid Va, 360 / Downes 
and Siegmeister, Treasry Am Sg, 44 / Duncan, No Hamilton Cnty, 77 / Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 
62 / Flanders, New Gn Mt Sgstr, 118 / Fuson, Bids Ky Hghlds, 1 13 / Gardner and Chickering, 
Bids Sgs So Mich, 146 / Grapurchat, East Radford (Va.) State Teachers College, 8 25 '32 / 
Haun, Cocke Cnty, 99 / Henry, Beech Mt F-S, 18 / Henry, F-S So Hghlds, 96 / Hummel, Oz 
F-S I Hudson, F-S Miss, in / Hudson, F-T Miss, 19 / Hudson, Spec Miss F-L, #15 / 
Jeckyll,7a^w SgStry, 58 / JAFL, XIX, 22; XXI, 56; XXVI, 175; XXVII, 64; XXX!, 319; 
XXXIX, io5;XLII, 272; XLVIII, 312; LVI, 242 IJFSS, V, 231 / Kittredge, Cambridge Ed. 
Child 9 s Bids, xxv / Kolb, Treasry F-S, i6/Lomax, Cowboy Sgs Frntr Bids, 159 (another song)/ 
Mason, Cannon Cnty, 20 / Minish Mss. / Morris, F-S Fla, 444 / Musical Quarterly, II, i I4ff. / 
N.J. Journal of Education, XV, #6, #7 / Ozark Life, VI, #2 / Owens, "studies Tex F-S, 26 / 
Parsons, F-T Andres Is, 152 / Parsons, F~L Sea Is, 189 / Perry, Carter Cnty, 154, 304 / 
Randolph, Oz F-S, I, 143 / Sandburg, Am Sgbag, 72 / Scarborough, On Trail N F-S, 35ff. / 
Scarborough, Sngctchr So Hghlds, 196 / SharpC, Eng F-S So Aplchns, 4^24 / Sharp K, Eng 
F-S So Aplchns, 1, 208 / Reed Smith, SC Bids, 144 (see Chapter VIII also) / Smith and Rufty, 
Am Anth Old Wrld Bids, 37 / SFLQ, II, 71 / Speculum, XVI, #2, 236 / Thomas, Devil's 
Ditties, 164 / Thompson, Bdy Bts Bnchs, 397 / Va FLS Bull, #s 26, 8 10 / Wyman and 
Brockway, Lnsme Tunes, 44. 

Local Titles: By a Lover Saved, Down By the Green Willow Tree, Hangman Hold Your 
Rope, Hold Your Hands Old Man, O Judges, The Gallows Tree, The Gallis Pole, The Gallant 
Tree, The Golden Ball, The Hangman (Hangerman, Hangsman), The Hangman's Son, The 
Hangman's Song, The Hangman's Tree, The Maid (Girl) Freed from the Gallows, The 
Scarlet Tree, The Sycamore Tree, The True Love Freed from the Gallows, True Love. 

Story Types: A: A girl, at the gallows, is about to be hung. She requests 
the hangman to stop the proceedings as she sees a member of the family 
(usually the father) coming. She asks her father if he has gold or fee, etc. to 
set her free. He says he has not; he has come to see her hung. This sequence 
of questions and answers goes on through the girl's relations (usually mother, 
brother, sister; sometimes, uncle, grandmother, cousin, etc.) until the sweet- 
heart comes and replies that he has brought the fee to free her. In a few texts 
he has a knife to cut the rope. 

Examples: Barry (I), Davis (A), Smith (A). 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study 0,7 

B : The sequence of events is similar to that of Type A, but an offense of 
which the girl is guilty is hinted at. This usually connects with golden ball- 
virginity legend. 

Examples: Barry (II), Davis (K), SharpK (B). 

C : The usual story is told, but the sex of the prisoner is male. 
Examples: Belden, Davis (E), Randolph (D). 

D : Dr. Maurice Gallagher of the Romance Language Department at the 
University of Pennsylvania recalls having heard a text sung in Texas in 1916 
in which a man waited in vain for the usual rescue and was eventually hung. 

No examples. 

E : The story is the same as that of Type A, except the fate of the girl is 
uncertain and there is a touching plea to the lover in the last four lines. 

Examples: Eddy (A). 

F: There are a few texts where badman ballads have taken over the 
Maid Freed from the Gallows motif. In one, a man sees his sweetheart through 
a train window (probably with another man), commits murder, and is sen- 
tenced to hang. In another, a similar, but not identical situation exists, and 
the girl rescues her lover from the gallows. In the third, the conventional 
"Fve killed no man, robbed no train, and done no hanging crime" prefaces 
the ballad. 

Examples (in order): Hudson, F-S Miss (D); 
Henry, F-S So Hghlds (E); Fuson. 

G: This type contains stanzas directed by the girl at the Saviour, who 
does not answer, complaining that her golden lands will be taken when she 
is in Eternity and that no one loves her. The true-love, Edward, appears. 
She says, and he-repeats, that he has no gold; nevertheless, he loves her and 
will set her free. The lovers then forgive the parents, but hope the brother 
is hung. * Examples : Haun. 

Discussion: There are detailed discussions of the history of this ballad in 
Reed Smith, SC Bids, Chapter VIII and in Scarborough, On Trail N F-S, 
35 ff. Consult also Erich PohTs article in FFC, $105, 1265. Child, II, 
346ff. and Sager, Mod Phil, XXVII, I29ff. discuss the whole .European 
tradition and the German parallels respectively Child, II, 346 expressing 
the opinion that the English versions are all "defective and distorted". See 



98 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

Child, IV, 482 for further references. Also consult NTFLQ, II, 139 for an 
Italian version beginning "Sailors do not drown me" and SFLQ, V, 25 for 
a discussion of a Rumanian analogue. 

In Europe the song invariably centers about some variation of a theme 
concerning a girl's capture by corsairs or a hero's imprisonment. In Britain 
and America the antecedent action, if mentioned at all, ties up with a crime 
the conventional loss of a golden ball, key, or comb, possibly representing 
virginity. See Broadwood, JFSS, V, 231; Kittredge, JAFL, XXX, 319; 
Scarborough, of. cit., 38. Belden, Mo F-S, 66 notes this song's importance 
in the study of ballad origins. Many of the forces of variation have worked 
on it, although its incremental repetition (see Kittredge's edition of Child's 
Ballads, xxv) has served to keep the framework intact. 

The American story types, usually with a hangman (Child G) instead of 
a judge, are large in number, although the structure of the song has remained 
amazingly constant. Type A tells the usual British story, and Type B seems 
to illustrate the manner in which a ballad can contact popular tale (see Child 
G, H). The Type C "sex reversal" is most likely a sentimental mitigation of 
the tragedy. If so, in Duncan, No Hamilton Cnty, B this change in mood is 
carried one step farther. There the mother rescues her son, because mother 
love is stronger than "sweetheart love". See Duncan, op. cit., 76. Such "sex 
reversals" are the rule in the Slavic countries and in America occur most 
often in the South. Type D does not follow the tradition of the story and in 
its failure to reverse the progression possesses a dramatically weak con- 
clusion, while Type E (which could result in Type D if reconstructed by the 
folk) is simply incomplete. The Type F degenerations ally themselves with 
the Lomax, Cowboy Sgs Frntr Bids, text which is a curious adaption of The 
Maid Freed from the Gallows motif to the life of the West called Bow Down 
Tour Head ani Cry. Type F is discussed in some detail by Barry and Henry 
in the latter's F~S So Hgblds, See also Morris, F-S Fla, 449, D version. 
Type G, which allies itself with the Scottish Child I text in the lack of gold 
and the curse on the brother, is treated at length by Haun in Cocke Cnty, 31. 
The Thompson, Bdy Bts JSrtchs, 397 text shows some affinities with this 
story type. 

The story itself has taken a number of forms in America. It is, particularly 
with negroes, popular as a drama (Davis, ?rd Sid Fa, 361, Scarborough, 
op. A 9 39; Reed Smith, op. cit., 85 ff.) and is also found as a children's game 
(Davis, op. cit., 361; JAFL, XXX, 319; Botkin, Am Play Party Sg, 62; 
Smith, op. cit., 88 ff. See also Child F). It exists as a prose tale in the United 
States and West Indies and upon occasion has been developed as a cante- 
fable. (See Smith, op. cit., Chapter VIII). These stories vary widely. Parsons, 



A Critical, Bibliographical Study 99 

F-2" Andros Is, 152 prints a cant e-f able where a girl goes away to school, 
falls in love against her stepmother's wish, is falsely accused of theft, and 
is sentenced to hang. Beckwith, PMLA, XXXIX, 475 prints a Jamaica 
version in which an engaged princess breaks a family rule and is to be hung. 
Her future husband comes with a great chariot, smashes the gallows, and 
rescues her. (For more Jamaican texts, see Jeckyll, Jamcn Sg Stry, 58 ff.) 
And Mary Owen, Foodoo Tales, 185 ff. found the song material used as a part 
of a Missouri story of a negro girl with a magic golden ball that made her 
white. Barry, Brit Bids Me, 2103 disputes the idea that the cante-fable 
and game stages are the last steps in the song's deterioration, and Russell 
Ames (JAFL, LVI, 242) discusses Leadbelly's version which the latter has 
developed from cante-fables. 

Barry, op. cit., sSgff. prints three secondary versions of this song from 
Maine. Hudson, F-S Miss, 113 maintains his E version, which contains a 
borrowed stanza at the end, to be a parody. The text is fragmentary, how- 
ever. 

For studies relating this ballad to negro songs, see Reed Smith, SC Bids, 
Chapter. VIII and Musical Quarterly, II, H4ff. 



96. THE GAY GOSHAWK 

Reed Smith prints this song among his list of American survivals of the 
Child ballads. See SFLQ, I, $2, 911. Check also the Vermont Historical 
Society, Proceedings, N. S., VII, 73 98. 



99. JOHNIE SCOT 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 213 / Green Mountain Songster , 41 / Haun, Cocke Cnty, 109 / 
Henry, F-S So Hgblds, 100 / JAFL, XLII, 273 / Kennedy, Effects Isolation, 321 / SharpC, 
Eng F-S So Aplcbns, #25 / SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplcbns, I, 215 / Wilson, Bckwds Am, 94. 

Local Titles: Johnie Scot, Johnny Scots. 

Story Types: A: Johnie Scot, out hunting or in service at the English 
court, gets a princess or noble lady with child. He returns to the North, but 
she is locked up by her father. After he writes and asks her to join him 
(sometimes this is omitted), she requests or the King summons him to come 
to England. He sets out to rescue the girl. As Johnie approaches the castle 
he sees his love looking out. At the court, the King scorns the force that has 
accompanied Johnie from his home and sentences them to hang. Johnie, 
however, prefers to fight, and the King brings forth an Italian champion to 
duel Johnie. The Italian is slain, and the King is so impressed that he frees 

8* 



ZOO British Traditional Ballad in North America 

the girl and gives his permission for the marriage. In some texts Johnie 
returns to Scotland, not only married, but as King. 

Examples: Barry (A, B); Haun; JAFL, XLII, 273. 

B : The story, if garbled, is like that of Type A, except that Johnie attacks 
the King (in this case Henry) and kills him along with his guards. He then 
takes the girl home with him. 

Examples: SharpK (B). 

Discussion; The Type A versions are generally similar to those in Child, 
but the SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplchns, B, Type B text seems to be unique. 
The SharpK, op. cit., C text may be of the same sort, however, although it is 
too incomplete to tell. The idea that King Henry flees, found in some versions, 
is American. 

Barry, Brit Bids Me, 222 ff. breaks the Type A texts into two main 
divisions according to the minor details of the story, and he also notes that 
the Maine Lord of Salvary (B) is the result of contact with a similar Breton 
ballad, Les Aubrays. See also Child, II, 378. 

The document of Rev. Andrew Hall (Interesting Roman Antiquities, etc., 
1823, p. 216) which Child quotes, II, 378 and SharpK, op. cit^ requotes, 418, 
reveals a story of the court of Charles II where a Scot, James Macgill, fought 
a professional Italian gladiator who leaped over him as if to "swallow him" 
and was "spitted" in mid-air. "Italian" becomes "taveren", "taillant", and 
the verb "swallow", a bird. 

The Green Mountain Songster text lacks mention of the Italian, a feature 
also missing in Child Q and R. 

ioo. WILLIE O WINSBURY 

lesas: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 224 / BFSSNE, IX, 6 / Combs, .F-S Etats-Unis, 140 / Green- 
leaf and Mansfield, Bids Sea Sgs Newfdld, 28. 
Local Titles: John Barbour, Young Barbour. 

Story Types: A: A girl is observed to be ailing by her father, the King. He 
suspects correctly that she is with child, although she denies it at first. The 
Bang wishes to know the man's rank, and, upon learning the lover is one of 
his Spanish servingmen or one of his seven sea boys, he orders the lad to be 
hung. The girl pleads for her lover. The lover, when brought before the King, 
so impresses the latter with his physical beauty that he is forgiven and offered 
gold, land and the girl's hand in marriage. He accepts the girl, but refuses 
the material wealth as he is rich himself. 

Examples: Greenleaf and Mansfield (A, B). 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study 1 01 

Discussion: The ballad is extremely popular in Newfoundland, but rare 
in the United States. Barry, Brit Bids Me, 221 found a fragment in his B 
version of Jobnie Scot (99), and there is an incomplete West Virginia text 
which ends with the girl pleading for her lover. The Vermont (BFSSNE) 
text is not complete either, and no reason is given for the King's change of 
heart. Also, the lover is "first down" (instead of being last, as usual). 

The American versions follow the Child story. See Child, II, 398. 

101. WILLIE DOUGLAS DALE 

Barry, Brit Bids Me, 454 notes that a Maine woman recognized the whole 
song, but could not repeat any of it. 

105. THE BAILIFFS DAUGHTER OF ISLINGTON 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 225 / Belden, Mo F-S, 68 / Crabtree, Overton Cnty, 307 / 
Davis, Trd Bid Va, 383 / Flanders, Cntry Sgs Vt^ 6 / Flanders, Garl Gn Mt Sg, 74 / Flanders, 
New Gn Mt Sngstr, 61 / Focus, V, 280 / Greenleaf and Mansfield, Bids Sea Sgs Newfdld, 34 / 
Hudson, F-S Miss, 1 14 / Hudson, F-T Miss, 4 / Hudson, Spec Miss F-L, # 1 6 / JAFL, XXX, 
321; XXXIX, 106 / Linscott, F-S Old NE, i6o/Morris, F-SFla, 453 / SharpK, Eng F-S So 
Aplchns, I, 219 / Shearin and Combs, Ky Syllabus, 8 / SFLQ, VIII, i$$\Va FLS Bull, #4. 

Local Titles: The Bailiff's Daughter, The Bailiffs Daughter of Islington, The Bailor's 
Daughter, The Comely Youth, There Was a Youth, True Love Requited. 

Story Types: A: A loving youth and the very coy bailiff's daughter have 
been parted for seven years. She had scorned him because she did not feel 
he really loved her, and his family had sent him away from "his fond and 
foolish pride". Sometimes, she has been locked up, also. The girl, however, 
disguises herself in rags, slips off, and goes in quest of her lover. She meets 
him along the way. When he asks if she knows the bailiffs daughter in her 
town, she replies that the girl has been dead for a long while. He then says 
he will go away to a far-off land. On hearing this she reveals her identity and 
promises to marry him. Sometimes the marriage is included. 
Examples: Barry, Davis (A), SharpK (A). 

B : The story outline is the same as that of Type A, but the' girl does not 
disguise herself as a beggar. Rather, she dresses in fine silk and asks for a 
kiss instead of a penny. The lad buys the girl jewels, and they have a merry 
wedding. Examples : Hudson, F-S Miss. 

Discussion: The Type A stories are similar to Child, but shorter. They 
derive from print and are generally quite stable. Type B, however, seems 
to reveal a rather undramatic change that has taken place in the original 



102 . British Traditional Ballad in North America 

narrative. However, see Alfred Williams, F-S Uffer Thames, 174 (head- 
note). 

Flanders, New Gn Mt Sngstr, 63 discusses the stability and scope of this 
ballad in America. For two unique stanzas see this article. See also her Garl 
Gn Mt Sg, 74 text that follows Child 105 a closely. In addition, A. C. Morris, 
(SFLQ, VII, 155) notes some interesting intrusions of "cracker" language 
into the text. 

Isabel Rawn (JAFL> XXIX, 201) prints a not uncommon song from 
Georgia concerning a soldier (or sailor) who returns (at first unknown) to 
his wife after seven years. She compares this song to Child 105. See also 
Barry's text, Tbe Love Token, in JAFL, XXIV, 339 and check Owens, SW 
Sings, n. p., A Pretty Fair Maid where the returning lover is a cowboy. 

106. THE FAMOUS FLOWER OF SERVINGMEN 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids 'Me, 227 / Blackbird Songster (Cozzans, N.Y., c. 1845). 
Local Titles: None given. 

Story Types: A: A noble girl marries a knight who builds her a home. The 
place is attacked by robbers (sent by the stepmother); the knight, slain; the 
others, routed. The girl escapes, dresses herself as a man, and goes to the 
King's court where she becomes a chamberlain. One day, when the King is 
out hunting, she takes a harp and sings her own true story to an old man. He 
later tells the tale to the King, who then marries the girl and rewards the 
old man. "Examples : Barry. 

Discussion: Child's text, without the stepmother, is based on English 
seventeenth century broadsides. The American texts follow the Percy text, 
Child, II, 429 (headnote), more closely. In this song the spite of the step- 
mother is mentioned. 

no. THE KNIGHT AND THE SHEPHERD'S DAUGHTER 

<Iext$: Brown Coll / BFSSNE, IX, // Greenleaf and Mansfield, Bids Sea Sgs New f did, 35 / 
JAFL, XXII, 377 / Miixish Mss. 

Local titles: Sweet Willie, The Knight and the Shepherd's Daughter. 

Story Types: A: A knight gets drunk and seduces a country girl. She asks 
his name so that she can call her baby after him. He replies that it is William, 
of the court, and rides away. She follows on foot. When she reaches the 
court, she tells the King her story, and he replies that if the man is married 
he shall hang; if single, shall be married to her. William is called down and 
bewails the revelry that has caused him to be forced into a marriage that is 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study 103 

below him. Nevertheless, the ceremony is performed. The girl turns out to 
be a duke's daughter; William, a blacksmith's son. 

Examples: Greenleaf and Mansfield. 

B : The story is the same as that of Type A, but the bribe is retained : that 
is, the knight offers the girl 500 to maintain her child, if she will forget the 
marriage. Examples: HFSSNE, IX, 7. 

Discussion: The Newfoundland version (Type A) is close to the usual 
Child story, although the seduction is nearer rape as in Child E, the attempts 
to buy off the girl are left out, and the end is made even more dramatic in the 
knight's being a blacksmith's (Child K), not at least a squire's, son. The 
Minish Mss. text is generally similar to the other Type A versions, although 
the knight is now a soldier, some of the details such as the reason for re- 
questing the man's name, the King's decree for the married and single man, 
etc. are left out. In this text, the girl also indicates that she has a local suitor, 
and, while her rank is revealed to be that of a princess in the end, her lover's 
rank does not change. 

Type B retains the bribe, and in the text cited above the revelation of the 
girl's being a princess comes in direct contradiction of the opening line's 
"shepherd's daughter". 

112. THE BAFFLED KNIGHT 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 454 (trace) / BFSSNJS, XII, 12 / Green Mountain Songster, 5 1 . 
Local Titles: The Shepherd's Son. 

Story Types: A: A man out walking meets a pretty girl and asks her 
where she is going. She smiles and flees. He chases and catches her with the 
remark "pretty maid, now let us understand". 

Examples: SFSSNE, XII, 12. 

B : The shepherd's son discovers a girl swimming in a brook, and, although 
he says he will not take her clothes, he swears to have his will of her. They 
mount horses and come to a meadow where he decides to have her. She asks 
him to wait till they get home, however, as the dew will ruin her gown. He 
consents. But, once home, she slips through the gates, locks him out, and 
mocks him. He threatens her, but leaves. 

Examples : Green Mountain Songster. 

Discussion: Type A has the "blow ye winds" chorus of Child Db (See also 
IV, 495) and follows the tradition of JFSS, II, 18 and W. B. Whall, Sea Sgs 
& Chanties, 24, 



1 04 British 'Traditional Ballad in North America 

The Green Mountain Songster text is close to Child D for the first four 
stanzas and to IV, 495 in the first stanza, but then it varies from the Child 
texts, although at many points a similarity to Child E can be seen. The 
parting threat of the knight is not in Child, however. 

Barry, Brit Bids Me, 455 states that a similar story was well-known in 
Maine under the title, Katie Morey. This song is printed in Shoemaker, Mt 
Mnstly, 131 from Pennsylvania as Kitty Maury; in SharpC, Eng F-S So 
A$lchns, 211 from Tennessee and North Carolina as Katie Morey; in Eddy, 
Bids Sgs Ohio, 64 from Ohio as The Shrewd Maiden; and in Perry, Carter 
Cnty, 122 from Tennessee as Katy Morley. However, these versions and 
others like them are secondary at best. 

114. JOHNIE COCK 

Texts: Davis, Trd Bid Fa, 385 / Fa FLS Bull, #8. 
Local Titles: Johnny Cock. 

Story Types: A: Johnny, against his mother's warnings, goes out to poach 
deer. He kills an animal and feasts himself and his dogs so freely that they 
all fall asleep. Foresters hear him blow his horn, and an old man directs them 
to the poacher. They attack Johnny. He kills six of them and throws the 
seventh, badly wounded, over a horse that he may carry the news of the 
fight home. Johnny then sends a bird to Fair Eleanor asking that he be 
fetched back as he is wounded. 

Examples: Davis. 

Discussion: The American version is shorter than the Child texts, though 
similar to them. Minor American variations are the blast of the horn, Johnie's 
comments on the forester's attack, the manner in which the seventh forester 
is sent off, and the flight of the bird to Eleanor rather than to the mother. 
This text most resembles Child A or B with some traits of D and M, but it 
has a final stanza that seems to be the result of contact with Lord Thomas 
and Fair Annet. See Davis, Trd Bid Fa> 385 for a discussion of this and other 
points in connection with the song. He notes there that the text is incomplete 
and spotty, although the continuity has remained intact. 

1 1 8. ROBIN HOOD AND GUY OF GISBORNE 
Texts: Brown Coll. 
Local Titles: Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne. 

Story Types: A: A distorted text tells how Robin Hood lived in die forest > 
killed men and deer, and frightened people. One day a stranger speaks to 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study 1 05 

this outlaw, saying that he is searching for one Robin Hood. As they travel 
together, Robin Hood reveals himself and then slays the stranger. 

Examples: Brown Coll. 

Discussion: The story given in this American ballad tells only a small 
fragment of the original tale. Robin Hood, having dreamed that two yeomen 
beat and bound him, sets out with Little John for revenge. In the greenwood 
they encounter a yeoman. John wishes to ask the stranger his intentions, 
but Robin, thinking this too bold, objects so roughly that John is hurt and 
goes home. At home, John finds Robin's men pressed by the sheriff, and he 
is captured and tied to a tree when his bow breaks. Meanwhile, Robin learns 
from the yeoman that he is seeking Robin Hood, but has lost his way. Robin 
offers to be his guide, and they go off. A shooting match is proposed, and, 
when Robin excels, the stranger in admiration wishes to learn his name. They 
identify themselves as Guy of Gisborne and Robin Hood, and a fight ensues. 
After scumbling and being hit, Robin lolls Guy with the aid of the Virgin. 
He then nicks Guy's face beyond recognition, switches clothes, and blows 
Guy's horn. The sheriff hears in the sound tidings that Guy has slain Robin 
and believes it is Guy he sees approaching. Robin, as Guy, refuses a reward, 
but frees John. The sheriff then takes flight, but is slain by an arrow which 
John sends from Guy's bow. 

The North Carolina text is meterically poor and almost prose in spots. 
Belden in his editing of the Brown Collection notes that the state of the text 
is likely "due to imperfect recollection on the part of the reporter". 

120. ROBIN HOOD'S DEATH 
Texts: Davis, Trd Bid Va, 388 / Va FLS SuU, #2. 
Local Tides: The Death of Robin Hood. 

Story Types: A: Robin Hood complains to Little John that he can no 
longer shoot well and says he wishes to go to a cousin to be let blood. Robin 
sets out alone to Kirkely nunnery and 1 is received cordially. His cousin 
opens a vein, locks him in a room, and lets him bleed till noon the next day. 
Robin is too weak to escape by a casement. He blows his horn three times, 
and the notes are so weak that John, on hearing them, concludes his master 
must be near death. He thus goes to Kirkely, breaks in, and gets to Robin. 
Little John wants to set fire to the hall, but Robin, who has never harmed a 
woman, refuses to let him. Robin asks for a bow to shoot his last shot which 
shall mark his grave, a grave with green grass, a bow at his side, and a tablet 
stating that Robin Hood lies there. 

Examples: Davis. 



Io6 British Traditional BdLlad in North America 

Discussion: This Virginia version follows Child B as to story, but shows 
definite traces of the professional ballad writer. In fact, this text seems to 
represent a corrupt broadside version that has slipped back into oral 
tradition. 

The song, obviously incomplete in America, lacks the "blood-letting" 
stanzas, although it does contain the attempt to ally Robin Hood with 
Robert, Earl of Huntingdon (see Child Bb) at the end. There is no refrain 
to the Virginia version. 

See Davis, 3rd Bid Va, 388 for a detailed discussion of this text. 

125. ROBIN HOOD AND LITTLE JOHN 

Texts: American Speech, II, #2 / JAFL, XXIII, 432; XXVII, 57 / SFLQ, II, 72; IV, 15. 
Local Titles: Robin Hood and Little John. 

Story Types: A: Robin Hood meets Little John on a narrow bridge over 
a river; neither will give way to let the other pass. When Robin threatens 
John, the latter calls him a coward as Robin has a bow and John only a 
staff. Robin then cuts himself a staff, and they fight. After an exchange of 
blows, Robin is knocked in the water. He pulls himself out and summons his 
men with a bugle blast. The men are going to duck Little John and pluck 
out his eyes, but Robin deters them and asks John to join the band. All 
have a feast. 

Examples: American Speech ', II; SFLQ, II, 72. 

Discussion: American texts are rare and the few that do exist show the 
influence of print. The Nebraska version is from Kentucky and the Illinois 
text from Virginia which points to a southern origin for the song. 

For a detailed analysis of the effects of transmission on Robin Hood and 
Little John see E. C. Kirkland, SFLQ, IV, 15 21. He compares a Tennessee- 
Ohio version line by line with Child 125 A to demonstrate the improvements 
oral tradition has made in the ballad with respect to narrative effect and 
diction. H. S. V. Jones (J4FL, XXIII, 432) compares the Virginia-Illinois 
version with Child 125, also. 

126. ROBIN HOOD AND THE TANNER 

Texts: Davis, Trd Sid Va^ 393 / Smith and Rufty, Am Anth Old Wrld Bids, 39 / Va FLS 



Local Titles: Robin Hood and Arthur 0' Bland* 

Story Types: A: Robin Hood goes to the forest where Arthur O'Bland, the 
forester, stops him. A two-hour fight ensues. Finally, Robin cries hold and 



A Critical, Bibliographical Stttdy 107 

asks the forester's name. (From Child we must supply the missing portion 
which concerns the learning of the name, the invitation extended to Arthur 
to join the outlaws and get some fee, and Arthur's acceptance.) Arthur then 
asks after his kinsman, Little John. Robin blows his horn, and in comes 
Little John, who wants to wrestle Arthur until all is explained. John then 
embraces his kinsman, and all three dance about the oak. 

Examples: Davis. 

Discussion: Consult Davis, Trd Bid Va> 393 for a full treatment of the 
Virginia text. Except for an obviously corrupt first stanza, the Virginia 
version is quite similar to the Child analogue. It is, however, more compact, 
having twenty-four, rather than thirty-seven, stanzas. 

In Child, Robin Hood is the forester and stays Arthur; a direct reversal 
has occurred in America. 

129. ROBIN HOOD AND THE PRINCE OF ARAGON 
Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 233. 
Local Titles: None given. 

Story Types: A: Robin Hood, Will Scarlet, and Little John in the wood 
meet a girl who says a princess must marry the Prince of Aragon (Oregon) 
unless she and two other girls can find three champions to battle the Prince 
and his two serpent-crowned giants. The three adventurers plan to accept 
the challenge, and, when they do, the Prince is greatly annoyed. The villains 
are slain, and Will finds his long lost father. He also wins the princess who 
chooses him over the two other champions. 

Examples: Barry. 

Discussion: The Maine version is obviously from print and is a pretty poor 
specimen. The story, although more compact than Child, III, 147, is the 
same story. 

132. THE BOLD PEDDLER AND ROBIN HOOD 

Texts: American Songster (Cozzens, N.Y.), 207 / Barry, Brit Bids Me, 457 (trace) / BFSSNE, 
IX, 8 / Creighton, Sgs Bids N Sc, iz / Flanders, Vt F-S Bids, 217. 
Local Titles: Bold Robing Hood, Pedlar Bold. 

Story Types: A: Robin Hood and Little John encounter a peddler, and 
Little John tries to force the man to share his pack with them. The peddler 
puts his pack on the ground and says that if Little John can move him from 
it he can have the whole thing. They fight, and John is forced to cry hold. 



joS British Traditional Ballad in North America 

Robin then tries and is also forced to quit. They ask the peddler his name, 
but he refuses to tell them until they name themselves. They do and learn 
that the peddler is Gamble Gold, Young Gamwell, etc., a cousin of Robin 
Hood. They all go and make merry over a bottle in a near-by tavern and 
dance around the oak. 

Examples: Creighton. 

Discussion: The Nova Scotia text follows the Child story closely. The 
Vermont text is sharply abbreviated, and Robin Hood is not in the story. 
Nevertheless, the outline of the original tale can still be seen, although 
Little John seems to recognize without help that Will Gammel Gay is his 
cousin who was banished from America with him. Barry's confidence (Brit 
Slds Me, 459) that this song and possibly Child 128 would turn up in Maine 
was justified in part. See BFSSNE, IX, 8. 

Child 132, which is a traditional variation of Child 128, can be traced 
back to the Tale of Gamelyn. Note the names Young Gamwell, Gamble Gold, 
Gammel Gay, etc. For a brief discussion of the relation of American texts 
of Child 132 to Child 128 and to broadside songs see JBFSSNE, IX, 8. 

135. ROBIN HOOD AND THE SHEPHERD 

Barry, Brit Bids Me, 461 states that a Maine woman had heard this song 
in Ireland in her childhood. 

139. ROBIN HOOD'S PROGRESS TO NOTTINGHAM 

Texts: Creighton, Sgs Bids N Sc, 15. 
Local Titles: Robin Hood. 

Story Types: A: A brief song tells how Robin Hood kills fourteen or fifteen 
foresters with one arrow, routs ten men who come to capture him, and 
escapes to the greenwood. 

Examples: Creighton. 

Discussion: The story (see Child, III, 175) in full tells how Robin Hood 
when fifteen years old fell in with fifteen foresters who were drinking at 
Nottingham. He made a bet he could kill a deer at one hundred yards. How- 
ever, when he did it, the men refused to pay. Robin Hood, therefore, killed them 
all, as well as the men who were sent from Nottingham to capture him. The 
story is from the Sloane Ms. 715, 7, fol. 157 and was made into a popular 
ballad in the seventeenth century. The Canadian fragment is close to Child 
139, stanzas 12, 16, and 17. 



A Critical, Bibliographical Study IOO 

140. ROBIN HOOD RESCUING THREE SQUIRES 

'Texts; American Songster (Cozzens, N.Y.), 204 / Barry, Brit Bids Me, 240 / Brown Coll. 
Local Titles: Robin Hood. 

Story Types: A: Robin Hood meets a young lady who, weeping, tells him 
that three squires of Nottingham have been taken prisoner. Robin calls his 
men for council and sets out for the town. En route, he meets a beggar. He 
changes clothes with the man for fifty guineas. Robin then meets the sheriff 
and tells the officer that he would like to hang the three squires personally 
and to give three blasts on his horn "that their souls in heaven might be". 
The request is granted. Robin mounts the scaffold and gives the three blasts, 
which serve as a signal to his men. They come, and the sheriff gives over the 
three squires. Examples: Barry. 

Discussion: The Maine version follows Child C, although the lady is not 
the mother of the three squires. Thus, the hanging of the sheriff on his own 
gallows, a feature of Child B, is not included. 

See the American Songster for a different text which Barry, Brit Bids Me, 
242 notes comes from either a poor stall copy or an oral source. 

141. ROBIN HOOD RESCUING WILL STUTLY 

Texts: Davis, Trd Sid Fa, 397 / Musical Quarterly, II, 4 / 7a FLS Bull, #2. 
Local Titles: The Rescue of Will Study. 

Story Types: A: Robin Hood learns that Will Stutly has been captured 
and is to be hung the next day. Robin Hood and his men go to the rescue 
and have news of the capture confirmed by a palmer standing under the 
wall of the castle in which Will is confined. Stutly is brought out, and Little 
John asks the sheriff for permission to speak to Will. He is curtly refused. 
Then Little John cuts Will's bonds and gives him a sword stolen from one of 
the sheriffs men. Robin Hood puts the sheriff to flight with an arrow, and 
Will rejoices. Examples: Davis. 

Discussion: The Virginia version has been abbreviated to twenty-one 
stanzas from the thirty-eight in Child, but is, nevertheless, very close to the 
Child text. There is one notable difference, however. In the latter Stutly, 
not Little John, 'addresses the sheriff, and he asks for a sword that he may 
die fighting rather than, having to be subjected to hanging. Refused, he asks 
only to have his hands freed. Again he is refused. Little John then frees him. 

The American and British texts of the ballad are obviously from print, 
and the story itself is an imitation of Child 140 in many respects. Davis, 
Ird Bid Va> 397 prints a detailed stanza comparison of his text with Child's. 



HO British Traditional Ballad in North America 

143. ROBIN HOOD AND THE BISHOP 
See Vermont Historical Society, Proceedings, N. S., VII, 7398. 

155. SIR HUGH OR THE JEW'S DAUGHTER 

Texts: Altoona tribune, 11 16 '31, 6 / Barry, Brit Bids Me, 461 (trace) / Belden, Mo' 
F-S, 69 / Berea Quarterly, XVIII, 12 / Brewster, Bids Sgs 2nd, 128 / Brown Coll / BFSSNE, 
V, 6 / Bull Tenn FLS, VIII, #3, 76 / Child, III, 248, 251 / Cos, F-S South, 120 / Creighton, 
Sgs Bids NSc,i6[ Davis, Trd Bid Va^ 400 / Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 66 / Flanders, New Gn Mt 
Sgstr, 254 / Focus, III, 396, 399 / Grapurcbat, Ea. Radford (Va.) State Teacher's College, 
$25 '32 / Henry, Beech MtF-S, 22 / Henry, F-S So Hgblds, 102 / Hudson, F-S Miss, 1 16 / 
Hudson, Spec Miss F-L, # 1 7 / Jones, F-L Mich, 5 / JAFL, XV, 1 95 ; XIX, 293 ; XXIX, 1 64 j 
XXXV, 344; XXXIX, 108, 212; XLI, 470; XLIV, 65, 2965 XLVII, 358; XLVIII, 2975 LII, 
43 / Leach-Beck Mss. / Morris, F-S Fla, 450 / Musical Quarterly, II, 124 / Newell, Games Sgs 
Am Children, 75 / New York Tribune, 727 and 8 4 '22 / Pound, Am Bids Sgs, 13 / 
Randolph, Oz F-S, I, 148 / Scarborough, On Trail N F-S, 53 / Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mts, 
171 / SharpC, EngF-S So Aplchns, #26 / SharpK, EngF-S So Aplchns, I, 222 / Shearin and 
Combs, Ky Syllabus, 8 / Reed Smith, SC Bids, 148 / SFLQ, VIII, 154 / University of Va. 
Mgz, Dec. 1912, 115 / Pa FLS Butt, 4s 2 "5 } 7 3 9 n- Korson, Pa Sgs Lgds, 36. 

Local Titles: A Little Boy Lost His Ball, A Little Boy Threw His Ball (Boss) So High, 
Fair Scotland, Hugh of Lincoln, It Rained a Mist, Little Harry Hughes, Little Sir Hugh, 
Sir Hugh (of Lincoln), The Jeweler's Daughter, The Jew's Daughter, The Jew's Garden, 
The Jew's Lady, The Two Playmates. 

Story Types: A: Some little boys are playing ball, usually in the rain. One 
tosses tie ball into the Jew's garden where no one dares go. However, 
the Jew's daughter invites the scared boy in. After enticing him to accept 
her invitation with a red apple, cherry, etc., she takes him to a remote part 
of the house. There she sticks him with pins, stabs him like a sheep, etc. 
Sometimes, he sees his nurse inside the house picking a chicken, but she 
pays no attention to his plight. In some endings the "the Bible-at-the-head 
and prayer book-at-the-feet" motif appears, and the boy requests that his 
mother be told he is asleep and his playmates be told that he is dead. In 
certain texts, the body is thrown in a well. 

Examples: Belden (A), Cox (A), Davis (A). 

B : The story is similar to that of Type A. However, the mother sets out to 
find her missing boy in the end of these ballads. She locates his body in the 
well, talks to him miraculously, and sometimes has his body even more 
miraculously returned to her. 

Examples: Child (G, N); JAFL, LII, 43; SharpK (B, F). 

C: The story is similar to that of Type A. However, the dialogue between 
the Jew's daughter and the boy is left out, and the youth volunteers to- 
climb the wall. There is no woman, only "they". 



A Critical, Bibliographical Study III 

Discussion: This ballad is founded on an incident that may have occurred 
in 1255. Child, III, 235 states the story as told in the Annals of Waverly in 
this manner: 

A boy in. Lincoln, named Hugh, was crucified by the Jews in contempt of Christ, 
with various preliminary tortures. To conceal the act from the Christians, the body, 
when taken from the cross, was thrown into a running stream; hut the water would 
not endure the wrong done its maker, and immediately ejected it upon dry land. The 
body was then buried in the earth, but was found above dry ground the next day. 
The guilty parties were now very much frightened and quite at their wit's end; as a 
last resort they threw the corpse into a drinking well. The body was seen floating on 
the water, and, upon its being drawn up, the hands and feet were found to be pierced, 
the head had, as it were, a crown of bloody points, and there were various other 
wounds : from all which it was plain that this was the work of the abominable Jews. 
A blind woman, touching the bier on which the blessed martyr's corpse was carrying 
to the church, received her sight, and many other miracles followed. Eighteen Jews, 
convicted of the crime, and confessing it with their own mouth, were hanged. 

Further references to Matthew Paris and The Annals of Burton are given by 
Child on pp. 235 and 237. 

The concept of Our Lady, used by Chaucer in The Prioress's Tale, has 
vanished in America. Our Lady's drawwell is just a well, the mother is just 
a sorrowing mother, and the religious note is almost forgotten. See SFLQ 9 
VIII, 154 (Fla.) where the girl is a jeweler's daughter. Walter M. Hart, 
English Popular Ballad, 30 I compares Chaucer and the ballad as re- 
presentatives of the artistic and folk forms of one story. Summers, The 
History of Witchcraft ana Demonology, 195 relates the legend with black 
magic. 

The American Story Types A and B follow the Child groups K-0 and 
A-F respectively, while Type C is a degeneration. Reference should be made 
to Foster Gresham (JAFL, XLVI, 385 f f .) for a discussion of textual variation 
in action. He uses two versions of Child 155, one taken from a little girl and 
the other taken from her grandmother who taught the song to her. 

Brewster (Sid Sgs Ind) 's A version tells of a "duke's daughter" and a 
"mother's maid" (nurse) in the house, while his C version makes the day 
sunny. Note also the "king's daughter" of Randolph, Oz F-S, B and the 
"gypsy" of Henry, F-S So Hgblds, B. In SharpK, Eng F-S Aplckns, D and 
E the Jewess calls Hugh her little son, which is baffling. The Jew is a man 
in Hudson, Spec MissF-L, 7. And the Bahaman version, printed by Parsons, 
JAFL, XLI, 470, is corrupted and confused even to the extent of having the 
boy promise to marry Barbary Ellen when he grows up. The real story has 
vanished. 

Hudson, F-S Miss, 116 notes that his version (with the bloody stanzas 



112 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

omitted) lias been used as a lullaby to sing children to sleep. Newell, Games 
and Sgs Am Children, 75 prints a New York (from Ireland) version which, has 
become a child's game. See Child N for the same text. 



156. QUEEN ELEANOR'S CONFESSION 

Linscott, F-S OldNE, 193 prints a song, Fair Rosamond, which is related 
to the story matter of Child 156. It derives from the broadside, Rosamond's 
Overthrow. 

In a letter. Dr. H. M. Belden informs me that "Queen Eleanors Concession 
is not now in the collection (F. C. Brown Collection) but it seems clear Brown 
found it there (in North Carolina) but failed to take down the text." Barry, 
Brit Bids Me, 462 reports the meeting of a Maine woman who recognized 
the story. 

157. GUDE WALLACE 

Barry, Brit Bids Me, 465 found a sea-captain in Maine who recognized the 

story. 

162. THE HUNTING OF THE CHEVIOT OR CHEVY CHASE 

'Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 243 / Davis, Trd Bid Va, 416 / Ford, Broadsides, Bids, etc. 
Mass, #s 301113 / Harvard University Library Broadside #25242.53 (312) / Mason, 
Cannon Cnty, 15. 

Local titles: The Battle of Chevy Chase. The Battle of Shiver Chase. 

Story Types: A: Percy kills some deer in Scotland, and Douglas, objecting, 
says he will prevent future foraging. Subsequently, after a feast on slain 
deer, Percy and his men are attacked by Douglas and his clan. The two 
leaders are going to fight, but a squire steps forth and announces that he 
will not stand by while his earl fights. Eventually, however, Douglas and 
Percy do battle alone. Percy weakens, and Douglas asks him to surrender. 
When the Englishman refuses he is slain. An arrow from an English bow 
then kills Douglas, and a general fight follows. Individual deeds and men 
are described and named. 

Examples: Barry, Davis. 

B : A fragment tells in two stanzas of a brutal fight between two earls. 

Examples: Mason. 

Discussion: The Virginia and Maine texts, both incomplete, follow Child 
B rather than Child A. However, the fighting has been abbreviated in 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study 113 

Virginia, and the order of the deaths changed. See Davis, Trd Bid Fa, 416 
and Barry, Brit Bid Me, 247 for summaries and stanza comparisons. 

The Chevy Chase tune was popular in the Revolution (see The Cow Chase). 
Por a Revolutionary War anecdote concerning the song, see Barry, op. tit., 
248 quoted from William Gordon, History of the Rise. . . of the Independence 
of the United States of America, London, 1788, I, 481. 

164. KING HENRY THE FIFTH'S CONQUEST OF FRANCE 

'Texts: BFSSNE, II, 5; IV, 10 / Flanders, Cntry Sgs Vt, 36 / Flanders, New On Mt Sgstr, 
193 / Henry, F-S So Hghlds, 108 / JAFL, XLV, 17 / N.J. Journal of Educ, XX, #s 3-4, 
6-7 / PMLA, XLVIII, 307. 

Local Titles: King Henry the Fifth's Conquest of France. 

Story Types: A: King Henry decides to collect a tribute from the King 
of France. He sends a page abroad, and the messenger brings back some 
tennis balls as the French monarch's reply. Henry then musters an army of 
men, none married, none sons of widows. He attacks France, and, after 
withstanding the first onslaught, triumphs. With a bribe of the French 
princess and a large amount of gold he returns to England. 

Examples: Flanders, New Gn Mt Sgstr; Henry, F-S So HgHds. 

Discussion: The American stories differ little from Child or from each 
other. The ballad is extremely rare in this country, although the discovered 
texts have been frequently reprinted. 

For an analysis of the relation of this ballad to the Alexander romance 
see Child, III, 322 and Flanders, New Gn Mt Sgstr, 195. The parallel be- 
tween Alexander's insult from Darius and his marriage to Roxanna to the 
events in the ballad is stressed. The balls and the references to the eventual 
victor's tender years are in both stories. 

166. THE ROSE OF ENGLAND 

See Vermont Historical Society, Proceedings, N* S., VII, 73 98. 

167. SIR ANDREW BARTON (including 250, HENRY MARTYN) 

Texts: Adventure, n 30 '23 ; 1 120 '24 / Barry, Brit Bids Me, 248 / Belden, Mo F-S, 
$7 / Child, IV, 395 ; V, 302 / Cox, F-S Soutb, 150 / Davis, FS Fa / Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 78 / 
Flanders, Cntry Sgs Vt, 8 / Focus, V, 280 / Qardner and Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mich, 211 / 
Gray, Sgs Bids Me Vjks, 80 / Haufrecht (ed.), Way\ariri Stranger, 20 / JAFL, XVTtll, 135, 
302; XXV, 171; XXX, 327 / Karpeles, F-S Netofdld, 104. / Kolb, Treasry F-S, 19 / Mac- 
Kenzie, Bids Sea Sgs N Sc, 61 / Randolph, Oz F-S, 1, 177; Reed Smith, SC Bids, 156; SFLQ, 
II, 205 / Thompson, Bdy Bts Brtcbs, 37. 



1 1 4. British Traditional Ballad in North America 

Local Titles: Andrew Bardeen (Satan, Battan), Andrew Martine, Andy (Ander) Barden 
(Bratann), Bolender Martin, Elder Bardee, The Pirates, The Three Scotch Brothers, Three 
Brothers of (Merrie) Scotland. 

Story Types; A: Three Scottish brothers cast lots to see which of them 
shall become a pirate to support the family. The lot falls to the youngest, 
Andy. He attacks and robs a rich English merchant. When the King learns 
of this crime, he sends Captain Stewart (Howard, in England) out to catch 
the robbers. Stewart locates and takes Andy, and brings him back to the 
gallows in England. Sometimes, however, Andy is sunk and drowned in- 
stead. 

Examples: Barry (under 167) (B); Belden; SFLQ, II, 205. 

B : The story is the same as that of Type A. However, Andy beats Stewart 
in the fight and continues on his way. 

Examples: Barry (under 167) (A); Cox; Randolph. 

C: The Barry (Brit Bids Me, 253 ff.) "Henry Martyn" type story ends 
with the capture of the merchant ship and the bad news* reaching England. 
In some versions the hero receives a death-wound and dies. 

Examples: Eddy (A); Haufrecht; JAFL, XVIII, 135. 

Discussion: This ballad and Henry Martyn (Child 250) are closely allied 
(see Child, IV, 393), and Barry, Brit Bids Me, 253ff., argues that they are 
the same song. He bases his claim on the older American texts and points 
out that the Child Henry Martyn stories are all fragments of the Andrew 
Barton tale which leave the chase and the capture out. Any ballad that has 
a chase and capture is Sir Andrew Barton. The American Henry Martyn 
songs that have the hero die and fall overboard are the result of a crossing 
with a text of Sir Andrew Barton itself or of an accident of traditional change. 
His conclusion is that Sir Andrew Barton exists in two forms in America : 
the story in which Sir Andrew Barton is hung (Type A), and the story in 
which, through contact with Captain Ward and the Rainbow (Child 287), Sir 
Andrew Barton wins and escapes (Type B). There are also abbreviations of 
these types which do not contain the chase and the capture. Such songs 
should be properly considered as Henry Martyn versions of Sir Andrew 
Barton. Barry is probably right. See Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 8 1 for further 
discussion. 

Barry, ibid. 9 also poses an interesting and probably accurate hypothesis 
that the Charles Stewart (Stuart) who replaces Howard in the ballad is 
Captain Charles Stewart (17781869), U. S. N. 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study 115 

Henry Martyn was a popular stall ballad in the nineteenth century (see 
Kittredge's note in JAFL> XXX, 327), but there is no record of Sir Andrew 
Barton being printed in America. 

Note also that the West Virginia version is almost identical to Child, V, 
302 (South Carolina). 

170. THE DEATH OF QUEEN JANE 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me^ 466 (trace) / BFSSNE, II, 6 / Davis, Trd Bid Va, 419 / 
Flanders, Vt F-S Bids, 219 / Niles, Anglo-Am Bid Stdy Bk> 24 / Niles, Bids Lv Sgs Tgc Lgds, 
1 6 / Scarborough, Sgctcbr So Mts, 254 / SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplcbns, I, 230. 

Local Titles: The Death of Queen Jane. 

Story Types: A: Queen Jane is in labor for more than six weeks. She tells 
the doctors to cut her open and save the baby. However, King Henry refuses 
to sacrifice her for the child. She dies, and the baby is saved, regardless. The 
funeral takes place, and the baby is christened. 

Examples: Niles, Bids Lv Sgs Tgc Lgds; SharpK (A, B). 

B : The story is similar to that of Type A. However, Queen Jane has be- 
come "a neighbor", and she calls for her father and mother before she calls 
for King Henry. Examples: BFSSNE, II, 6. 

C: A lyric on the theme of Queen Jane's labor survives from the bajflad 
and contains repeated comments by her mother, her father, and Prince 
Henry that "the Red Rose of England shall flourish no more". 

Examples: Scarborough. 

D : Sally is taken sick and goes to bed. King Henry is sent for. Then the 
"Are you the doctor ?" lines from the American Brown Girl (Child 295) 
enters (see Child lyoB), as does the gloating over the dying girl by the jilted 
lover. Sally's presentation of the ring and her death follow. 
Examples: Davis, p. 420; SharpK, p. 303. 

Discussion: The full ballad is a threnody on the death of Jane Seymour, 
who succumbed twelve days after the birth of Prince Edward, October 12, 
1537. The Queen is ill, begs for surgery to save her unborn (in the ballad) 
child. See Child, III, 3723. King Henry refuses to sacrifice the mother for 
the child. An operation becomes necessary, and the boy lives through it, 
while the mother dies. The jubilation over the birth is lost in lamentation. 

The Type A version follows this story rather closely. Type B is probably 
from a broadside (see BFSSNE, II, 7) and shows a variation from "in 



1 1 6 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

labor" to "a neighbor" that might eventually change the details of the story. 
The refrain has become "the red roads of England shall flourish no more". It 
should also be noted that Henry does not enter the song until the eighth of 
ten stanzas. If a singer were to forget the last three stanzas a new story 
would exist. For a comparison of this version to Child A, E, H, and I see 
BFSSNE, II, 7. 

The Type C text is rather beautiful, but it needs little explanation. It is 
the result of a common American ballad tendency. The Type D stories, how- 
ever, reveal the growth of a new ballad from the merger of two older ones. 
The entrance of the doctor into a dying woman's room has been sufficient to 
switch the story into the American Brown Girl and to change the Queen's 
name to Sally, although the "black and yellow" funeral stanzas are retained 
at the end. The result appears to be a counterpart of Barbara Allen with the 
sexes reversed. See Davis, Trd Bid Va^ 419. 

Flanders, FtF-S lds, 219 prints a song called Two Dukes which contains 
the first two lines of Stanza 5 and the last two lines of Stanza 6 (the funeral 
description) of Child 1700. It is given as a version of The Death of Queen 
Jane, but it seems to me to be The Duke of Bedford which has been corrupted 
by Child 170. See also BFSSNE, II, 7. 

1 73. MARY HAMILTON 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 258 / BFSSNE, III, 8 / Combs, F-S Etats-Unis, 141 / Davis, 
Trd Sid Va^ 4.2,1 / Franklin Square Song Collection (J. P. McCaskey), VI, 75 / no Scotch 
Songs, Thomas a Becket, Jr. (Ditson, Boston) / Randolph, OzF-S, 1, 151 / Smith and Rufty, 
Am Antb Old WrU Bids, 42. 

Local litles: Mary Hamilton, The Four Marys. * 

Story Types: A: Mary Hamilton, one of Queen Mary of Scotland's four 
servants named Marie, is with child by a member of- the court. She throws 
the baby in the sea when it is born, but Queen Mary suspects and discovers 
the truth. Mary Hamilton is condemned to burn at the stake or hang. After 
telling the people not to weep for her and drinking a toast or two, Mary 
Hamilton rues the outcome of her life before she dies. 

Examples: Combs. 

B: A lyric lament at the stake or gallows, with almost no trace of the 
story, has been found. 

Examples : Barry (A), Davis (A). 

Discussion: The Type A text from West Virginia is close to Child A. The 
lyric laments (Type B) come from the end of the ballad where Mary makes 
her last piteous remarks before the execution. They resemble Child BB. 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study j i 7 

The events narrated in the ballad may be based on either the story of an 
incident in the court of Mary, Queen of Scots, in 1563 in which a French 
woman servant and the Queen's apothecary were concerned or the affair in 
Czar Peter of Russia's court in 1718 19 involving one Mary Hamilton and 
an officer named Orloff, or both. See Child, III, sSoff., and Tolman, PMLA, 
XLII, 422. 

176. NORTHUMBERLAND BETRAYED BY DOUGLAS 
See Vermont Historical Society, Proceedings, N. S., VII, 73 98. 

178. CAPTAIN CAR or EDOM GORDON 

Reed Smith lists this ballad as one of the Child survivals in America. See 
SFLQ, I, $2, 9 II. I have not been able to locate a published text, how- 
ever. 

180. KING JAMES AND BROWN 

Barry, Brit Bids Me, 467 reports that a Maine sea-captain recognized the 
ballad. 

181. THE BONNY EARL OF MURRAY 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 468 (trace) / Brown Coll / JAFL, XX, 158; XLIV, 297. 
Local Titles: Highlands and Lowlands. 

Story Types: A: One text is an almost lyric moan for the Earl of Murray 
who has been slain and laid on the green. It was ordered he be captured, not 
killed. He was a. capable man, a favorite of the Queen, and might have be- 
come King. Examples: JAFL, XLIV, 297. 

B : A similar lyric, which mourns Murray, upbraids Huntly for killing the 
man in his bed, reminds him his wife will rue the deed, and tells him he will 
not dare come into Dinnybristle town for a long time. 
Examples: JAFL, XX, 158. 

Discussion: The Type A story follows Child A closely, while Type B is an 
incomplete variation which resembles Child B (Stanzas 6 and 9) in its final 
two stanzas. In Type B the speakers and the story background are not clear. 
For the complete story behind the ballad and for the details of the murder of 
Murray by Huntly in February 1592 see Child, III, 447. 

fiarry found a Maine sea-captain who recognized the song. See Barry, 
Brit Bids Me, 468. 



1 1 8 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

183. WILLIE MACINTOSH 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 264. 

Local Titles: None given. 

Story lypes: A: Willie Macintosh, involved in a border feud, is burning 
Auchendown, although he has been warned that Huntly is moving to head 
him off. Examples : Barry. 

Discussion: Barry, Brit BUs Me, text follows Child A closely. However, 
the ballad was taken down from recitation and appears to be no longer sung 
in Maine. See Barry, op. cit. 9 265. 

The ballad is based on one of a series of revenge incidents which originated 
in the Murray murder (see Child 181) of 1592. William Macintosh and his 
men were attacked and routed by Huntly while ravaging the latter's lands. 
See Child, III, 465 for the complete details of the events and an explanation 
of the confusion of two William Macintoshes. 

185. DICK THE COW 

In Focus (Farmville, Va.), V, 297, Reed Smith notes that this ballad "had 
been found in Missouri. Johnnie Armstrong steals Dick's three cows. Dick 
retaliates gloriously". I have not seen a text. 

187. JOCK O THE SIDE 

Shoemaker, Mt Mnstly, 238 prints a story outline of this ballad as it was 
recited in Pennsylvania with a few stanzas recalled. The stanzas compare to 
Child B, Stanzas I, 11, 12 14, 26 28. The long story is summarized by 
Child, III, 4767. The plot (Child B) revolves about the rescue of Jock from 
Newcastle by a handful of men who climb the town wall, enter the jail, kill 
the porter, and escape, with Jock still in irons, by swimming the Tyne just 
ahead of the pursuing English. 

1 88. ARCHIE CAWFIELD 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 393 / BFSSNE, VI, 7 / Child, III, 494 / Gardner and Chicker- 
ing, Bids Sgs So Mich, 217 / Linscott, F-S Old NE, 172, 
Local Titles: Bold Dickie. 

Story Types: A: Two brothers bewail a third brother who is in prison. 
They muster forty men and, under the leadership of one brother, Dickie 
(Hall), cross a river and break into the jail. The inmate, Archer, is chained 
and pessimistic, but Dickie frees him. They ride to the river, where Archer 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study 119 

loses courage because his horse is lame and cannot swim. However, the 
mount is changed, and he gets over. The sheriff then appears with one 
hundred men, and when Archer sees them in pursuit his courage wavers again. 
Dickie, however, just mocks his pursuers. 

Examples: Child F, Linscott. 

Discussion: The ballad resembles Jock o the Side (Child 187) quite closely, 
more so in Child A-E than in the American Child F. For a complete treat- 
ment of the English stories in comparison with F see Child, III, 484ff. See 
also the fragment, similar to Child F, in BFSSNE, VI, 7. 

Barry, Brit Bids Me, 393 ff. prints four Massachusetts and one Maine 
derivatives of Archie o Cawfield which probably reveal the Child ballad 
adapted to the imprisonment of a Massachusetts mint-master, John Webb, 
by the Government in 1800. Webb was freed by friends. Barry states that 
these fragments, if placed together, "would very nearly complete the ballad" 
and suggests a comparison to Child F, although resemblances to Child A and 
B are noted. The titles John Weller and Billy and Johnny are used. 

Gardner and Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mich, print a long secondary version 
which was collected in Michigan and which they feel follows Child B. 



199. THE BONNIE HOUSE O AIRLIE 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 266 / Cox, F-S Sottth, 128 / English Journal (April 1918), 270. 
Local Titles: Prince Charlie, The Bonnie Hoose o' Earlie, The Plundering of Arley. 

Story Types: A: During the reign of Cromwell, the Duke of Argyle moves 
to plunder the house of the Earl of Airly. The latter is away. Lady" Margaret 
Airly sees Argyle approach with his men. When he reaches the gates, she 
refuses to come down and loss him. He seizes her, however, and eventually 
discovers her dowry among the planting. Then, he lays her down on the 
streamside while he plunders the home. The wife swears if she had seven 
(eleven) sons, she would give them all to Charles. 

Examples: Barry (A), Gardner and Chickering. 

B : The story is essentially like that of Type A. However, the lady of the 
estate is just a girl and the absent protector just a knight. In addition, she 
requests to be taken to the valley where she cannot see the plundering, but 
is instead taken to a mountain top and made to watch the destruction. The 
real story is lost, and the War of the Roses is used as the background. 

Examples: Barry (B). 



I2O British Traditional Ballad in North America 

C: The story of Type C is essentially a cross between Types A and B. The 
heroine is still Lady Margaret, whose husband, the Earl, is absent, but the 
mood, detail, and story are those of Type B. 

Examples: Cox. 

Discussion: The historical background of this ballad is summarized by 
Child, IV, 55 and centers about the 1640 commission issued to the Earl of 
Argyle by which he was permitted to subdue and bring to "their duty" 
certain political and religious undesirables. Argyle interpreted his commission 
rather savagely. 

The Type A story follows Child A, while Type B is related to Child BB and 
Greig, Last Leaves of Trd Bids, B. The West Virginia (Type C) text, which 
appears to be a cross of Types A and B is closest to Child C. 

A comparison should be made of the two unusual stanzas at the start of 
the Gardner and Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mich, fragment and Stanzas 10 and 
12 of a Ford broadside (See Ford, Broadsides, Bids, etc. Mass (2nd series),. 
167 9). These stanzas begin, in the Gardner and Chickering book, with the 
line c< What loo* is that, 'quoth the brave Lor' Heel". 

An Illinois version, that is said to be "the work of a high school student 
born in Scotland, but long a resident of this country" is printed in English 
Journal for April, 1918, p. 270. This text would be a Type D story, if one 
could be certain that it was not partly composed by the student in question. 
The story begins like Type A, but after the lady refuses to come down a 
change occurs in the narrative events. In the next stanza, Airly returns and,, 
finding the carnage, swears revenge. He attacks Argyle's clan (the Camp- 
bells), but fails to slay the Lord. His drummer makes light of the fray; so- 
Airly in a rage throws him from a tower. The boy swears he will haunt his 
master on the latter's death-day. Later, on hearing drums playing mysteri- 
ously from the tower, Airly knows his time has come. 

200, THE GYPSY LADDIE 

Texts: Anderson, Coll Bids Sgs, 49 / Arlington's Banjo Songster (Philadelphia, 1860), 47 / 
Barry, Brit Bids Me, 269 / Belden, Mo F-S, 73 / Brewster, Bids Sgs Ind, 134 / Brown Coll / 
CFLO, V, 212 / Cambiaire, Ea Tenn Wstn Va Mt Bids, 59 / Chappell, F-S Rnke Alb, 37 / 
Chase, Trd Bid Sgs Sgng Games, 4 / Child, IV, 72 / Cox, F-S South, 130 / Cox, Trd Bid W Va, 
31 / Cox, W. 7 a. School Journal and Educator, XLIV, 428 / Davis, Trd Bid Fa, 423 / De- 
Witt's Forget-me-not Songster (N.Y., 1872), 223 / Duncan, No Hamilton Cnty, 85 / Eddy,, 
Bids Sgs Ohio, 67 / Flanders, Garl Gn Mt Sg, 69 / Flanders, Ft F-S Bids, 220 / Garrison, 
Searcy Cnty, 10 / Gilbert, Lost Chords, 35 / Greenleaf and Mansfield, Bids Sea Sgs Newfdld, t 
38 / Hauri, Cocke Cnty, 65 / Henry, Beech Mt F-S, 6 / Henry, F-S So Hghlds, 1 10 / Hooley's. 
Opera House Songster, 46 / Hudson, .F-S Miss, 117 / Hudson, F-T Miss, 26 / Hudson, Spec 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study 121 



Miss F-L, JfrrtlJAFL, XVIII, 191 5 XIX, 294; XXIV, 346;XXV, i73;XXVI } 3 5 3 ;XXX, 
323, XLVIII, 385; LII, 79 / Karpeles, F-S Newfdld, 13 / Ky Cnties Mss. / Kincaid, Fav Mi 
Bids, 33 / Linscott, F-S Old NE, 207 / Lomax, Am Bids F-S, 292 / Lomax and Lomax, Our 
Sgng Cntry, i$6/ Lunsford and Stringfield, 30 & i F-S So Mts, 4 / Mclntosh, So III F-S, 17 / 
Martz' Sensational Songster, 6$ / Mason, Cannon Cnty, 21 / McGill, F-S Ky Mts, 15 / Minish 
Mss. / MLN, XXVII, 242 / Morris, F-S Fla, 455 / Musick, F-L Kirksville, 8 / Neely and 
Spargo, Tales Sgs So III, 140 / New York broadside (de Marsan, List 4^3, #28), Brown 
University Library / Owens, Sttidies Tex F-S, 28 / Perry, Carter Cnty, 86, 298 / Pound, Nebr 
Syllabus, io/ Raine, Land Sddle Bags, 119 / Randolph, OzF-S, I, 152 / Sandburg, Am Sgbag, 
311 / Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mts, 215 / Sharp C, EngF-S So Aplcbns, #27 / SharpK, Eng 
F-S So Aplcbns, I, 237 / Smith and Rufty, Am Antb Old Wrld Bids, 44 / SFLQ, VIII, 1567 
Stout, F-L la, ii / Va FLS Bull, #s 3, 5, 8, 9, n / Harry L. Wilson, Lions of tbe Lord, 
37680. 

Local Titles: Bill Harman, Black-eyed Davy, Black-jack Davy (David, Daley), Cross-eyed 
David, Egyptian Davy-O, Gay Little Davy, Georgia Daisy, Gypsea Song, Gypsie (Gypsen, 
Gypso) Davy, Gypsy Daisy, It was Late in the Night When Johnny Came Home, Oh Come 
and Go Back My Pretty Fair Miss, Seven Gypsies in a Row, The Dark-clothes Gypsy, The 
Gypsies, The Gypsy (Gyptian) Laddie, The Gypsy Lover, The Heartless Lady, The Lady's 
Disgrace, The Three Gypsies, When Carnal First Came to Arkansas, When the Squire Came 
Home. 

Story Types: A: A gypsy sings or whistles before the lord's house and 
charms his lady away, often after he has received gifts of such things as 
wine, nutmeg, rings, etc. from her. When the lord returns and finds his wife 
gone, he orders his horses saddled and overtakes the elopers. He asks his 
lady if she has forsaken him, her child, and warm bed. Mentioning, in some 
texts, that she married against her will in the first place, she assures him she 
has. Most texts include some of the following material: the husband asks- 
his wife who will care for the children and receives the reply, "you will"; 
the husband tells the wife to remove her fine Spanish shoes and give him 
her hand in farewell; some comments are made on the comparative poverty 
of the woman's new station. 

Examples: Barry (A); Cox, F-S South (C); 
Davis (A); JAFL, XVIII, 191 (B); Perry (B). 

B : The story is the same as that of Type A, except that the wife writes her 
husband a few weeks later that she is tired of her lover and wishes to come 
home. He writes back that he has another girl, and she can stay with her 
gypsy. Examples: Davis (B). 

C: The story is similar to that of Type A, except that the gypsy casts the 
lady off in the end. 

Examples: Belden (C), Garrison. 



122 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

D: The story is similar to that of Type A. However, in a fashion that is 
reminiscent of Type B, the lord remarries inside six months. 

Examples: Child (J). 

E : The story resembles Type A. However, the lady repents and goes home 
to her "feather bed and baby". 

Examples: Cox, F-S South (B). 

F: A West Virginia adaption of the ballad to a local event has the husband 
follow the elopers and give up the chase when he loses their trail. 
Examples: Cox, F-S South (D), 

G: The sexes become reversed in some texts (though in the garbled 
Scarborough example the original arrangement remains in the opening 
stanza), and the lady runs off with another girl. 

Examples: Scarborough (C); JAFL, XVIII, 194 (F). 

H : The versions that have been corrupted by stanzas from the old English 
folksong "I'm. Seventeen Come Sunday" have the "gypsy" ask the girl her 
age and get the "seventeen (sixteen ) next Sunday" reply. He may also ask 
the girl whether or not she will flee with him and again get the "next Sun- 
day" reply. She then removes her low (high) shoes of Spanish leather, puts 
on her high (low)-heeled ones, and rides off with her new lover. The normal 
pursuit of the husband, the usual scorning of him, and the "cold ground- 
feather bed" comparison follow. 

Examples: Hudson, F-S Miss (B); JAFL, XLVIII, 385; III, 79. 

I: A short lyric has been found: last night I lay in my feather bed, but 
tonight in the arms of a gypsy. The story is completely gone, and only the 
comparison of the two lives remains. 

Examples: Flanders, Vt F-S Bids (A). 

Discussion: The basic outline of the traditional story (see Child, IV, 61 ff . 
for detail) is as follows : Some gypsies sing at a lord's gate and entice the 
lady down. When she shows herself they cast a spell over her, and she gives 
herself over to the gypsy chief (Johnny Faa from Seanin an Faith or Johnny 
the Seer in Gaelic. See Linscott, F-S Old NE 9 208.) without reservation. Her 
lord, upon returning and finding her gone, sets out to recover her. He cap- 
tures and hangs fifteen gypsies. 



A Critical, Bibliographical Stuly 123 

The song is probably the rationalization of a fairy-lover story (The Ran- 
dolph, Oz F-S, E text has the lady admit she is bewitched. This may, of 
course, be a modern reversal to the original motif, or it may be a survival of 
that motif.) that has later become allied with a traditional story of the love 
affair and subsequent elopement of one Johnny Faa and Lady Cassilis, wife 
of the Earl of Cassilis. (See Child, IV, 63 ff. where the name Johnny Faa is 
stated to be a very common one among the nomads and where the story is 
discussed.) 

There are any number of minor variations in this story as told by the 
American ballads. In this country, the hanging of the gypsies and the names 
Faa and Cassilis are omitted. The rationalization has frequently been carried 
further so that the gypsy becomes merely a lover and the lady a landlord's 
wife, etc. (See Cambiaire, Ea Tenn Wstn Va Mt Bids. Note also Davis, 
Trd Bid Fa, E where the gypsies are on their way to becoming Indians.) 
For a detailed discussion of one America (Ohio) text see MLN, XXVII, 
242-4. 

In general, it may be said that American texts follow the Child H and I 
versions most closely. There are, however, a large number of story types, the 
differences centering mostly about the final outcome of the tale. Type A 
tells the usual American narrative, with the rejection of the secure home for 
the insecure nomad life seeming to appeal to the New World (See Type I)* 
The Spanish boots so frequently mentioned are to be found in Child G as well. 
Types B, C, and D reveal an almost puritanical revision of the end in the 
interests of seeing justice done or because of local incidents that have 
attached themselves to the story as Garrison, Searcy Cnty, II suggests. 
Type E is pure sentimentality, and Type F shows the influence of a local 
event on the narrative. The West Virginia elopement of Tim Wallace, a very 
ugly man, with Billy Harman's wife, an exceptionally pretty woman, is re- 
told in the framework of The Gypsy Laddie. Type G is an example of de- 
generation through transmission in this case to the point of absurdity. 
(See Flanders, Ft F-S Bids, 220 and Reed Smith, SC Blds 9 37 for discussion.) 
Type H is the result of a corruption of the ballad by "I'm Seventeen Come 
Sunday". The amount of transfer varies to some degree within this type, 
but members of the group are not uncommon. See Haun, Cocke Cnty, 65; 
JAFL, LII, 79; Mason, Cannon Cnty, 21; and Neely and Spargo, Tales Sgs 
So III, 140; as well as others. 

The jingling American refrains are not in the British texts. See Belden, 
Mo F-S, 74. Usually some nonsense phrase like "ring a ding", etc. or "diddle 
dum", etc. constitutes the refrain many times in the form of a chorus. 
However, meaningful refrains do occur. See "oh how I love thee" in Duncan, 



1 24 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

No Hamilton Cnty, 85 (Tennessee). Also, a "raggle-taggle gypsy" line often 
recurs. See Cox, Trd Bid W 7 a, C. 

Barry, Brit Bids Me, 273 expresses the belief that he has found a text of 
the song of Irish origin. 

The ballad has been the subject of a number of burlesques. See particu- 
larly DeWitfs Forget-me-not Songster (N. Y., 1872), 223. 

201. BESSY BELL AND MARY GRAY 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 278 / Cox, F-S South, 134 / Cox, W. Fa. School Journal and 
Educator^ 428 / Davis, Trd Bid Fa, 432 / Mother Goose's Melodies (James Miller, N.Y., 1 869) / 
Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mis, 191. 

Local Titles: Bessy (Betsey) Bell and Mary Gray. 

Story Types: A: The first four lines of the Child ballad exist as a song by 
themselves. Examples: Davis (C, D). 

B: The first four lines of the Child ballad, with a nursery stanza added,, 
exist as a nonsense rime. 

Examples: Barry (A), Davis (A). 

C: A two-stanza song is made up of the first stanza used by Types A and 
B in addition to a stanza on the green, not red or yellow, shoes the girls wore. 
Examples: Cox, F-S South. 

D : The first stanza is that of Type A, The second stanza tells of the death, 
coming from the town and killing the 1 girls. 

Examples: Scarborough. 

Discussion: This ballad is based on the old Scottish story concerning two 
girls, Mary Gray, daughter of a laird of Lednock; and Bessy Bell, daughter 
of the laird of Kinvaid. When the latter girl was visiting the former in 1645, 
a plague broke out. The two women sought refuge in a bower. However, be- 
fore long they were infected by a young man who was in love with one or 
both and who brought them food. They were buried near-by. The London 
Times of July 8, 1832 (and again of July 8, 1932) prints a report of the 
fencing in of the girls' grave by Lord Lynedoch in order to protect it from 
sightseers. 

Davis, Trd Bid 7a, 432 reports that there are two mountains in County 
Tyrone in Ireland that have the same names as the girls. These titles have 
also been given to twin peaks near Staunton, Va. For further details consult 
Child, IV, 75 --6. 



A Critical, Bibliographical Study 125 

The American texts are fragmentary, but this condition seems to be the 
rule in the New World. Davis, of. cit., 433 notes that "several people have 
told me they had known the first stanza of the ballad all their lives, but had 
no idea it was a ballad". Type A is of this sort. Compare it with Child's text, 
Stanzas I or 4. See also Ramsay's Poems, Edinburgh, 1721, 80 as quoted by 
Child, IV, 75. Type E is found as a nursery rime in Halliwell's Nursery 
Rhymes of England, 1874, 2 4^ an( i * s ^ e most common American type. 
Type C seems to have been corrupted by The Gypsie Laddie (Child 200), 
while Type D constitutes an incomplete form of the Child text. See Stanzas 
I and 2 in Child. 

204. JAMIE DOUGLAS 

Barry, Brit Bids Me, 469 ff. presents evidence that this song will be found 
in Maine. He prints a text (0 Waly Waly) which derives from a song that 
Child, IV, 92 notes has shared stanzas with Jamie Douglas (Child A-M 
versions). Waly Waly appeared in Ramsay's Tea Table Miscellany, II, 
under the title Waly Waly Gin Love Be Bonny. 

208. LORD DERWENTWATER 

Texts: JAFL, XLVII, 95 / Morris, F-S Fla, 460 / SFLQ, VIII, 158. 
Local Titles: The King's Love Letter. 

Story Types: A: The Duke is summoned to England by a "love letter" 
from the King, He calls his eldest son and tells the lad that he is leaving for 
London. Before the city, he meets a man who fortells the Duke's death and 
asks for his will. The will is given; thereupon the Duke's nose begins to 
bleed as he stoops over to smell flowers. The song is incomplete, and it ends 
with the Duke's wish that his children be cared for. 

Discussion: The story of the incomplete Florida version can be recon- 
structed from the Child texts (especially Child D) where Derwentwater, who 
was actually an agitator for the Pretender, is summoned as a Scotsman to 
the court. His wife, with child, forseeing his death, tells him to make his 
will before he goes. Derwentwater complies. He then sets forth. En route, by 
some omen such as a bleeding nose, the stumbling of his horse, etc. he knows 
his days are numbered. At London, he is branded a traitor. An old man with 
an axe then steps up (undoubtedly this man is the original of the American 
questioner) and demands the Lord's life. Derwentwater is slain after a few 
generous dying requests. 

For a discussion of the one American text of the ballad and the folk super- 
stition in the nose-bleeding see SFLQ, VIII, 158. A. C. Morris, the editor of 



126 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

this item, sees this discovery as an indication of the retention of English 
eighteenth centnry culture in the South. 

209. GEORDIE 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 475 (trace) / Belden, Mo F-S, 76 / Brown Coll / Chappell, F-S 
Rnke Alb, 37 / Cox, F-S South, 135 / Davis, Trd Bid Va, 435 / Flanders, Vt F-S Bids, 241 / 
Gardner and Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mich, 317 / Greenleaf and Mansfield, Bids Sea Sgs 
Newfdld, 40 / Orem Mountain Songster, 33 / Hummel, Oz F-S / JAFL, XX, 319; XXXII, 504 / 
Niles, SgsHillFlk, 12 / Pound, Nebr Syllabus, n / Randolph, OzF-S, I, 161 / Randolph, Oz 
MtFlk, 2Z4/ Scarborough, Sgctchr SoMts, 213 / SharpC, EngF-S So Aplchns, #28 / SharpK, 
EngF-S So Aplchns, I, 240 / Shoemaker, Mt Mnstly, 162 / Shoemaker, No Pa Mnstly, 158 / 
SFLO, V, 170 / Va FLS Bull, #s 7, 9 / Wetmore and Bartholomew, Mt Sgs NC, 13. 

Local Titles: Charlie and Sally, Charley's Escape, Geordie, Georgia, George E. Wedlock, 
Georgie, Georgy-O, Go Saddle Up My Milk-White Steed, Johnny Wedlock, Lovely Georgie, 
The Laird of Gigh, The Life of Georgia. 

Story Types: A: A man crossing London Bridge sees a girl weeping for 
Georgie. Georgie, in prison for a crime calling for capital punishment, has 
sent for his sweetheart or wife. She has hurried to him and knows that he 
can be rescued by a large ransom. She raises the money. However, Georgie 
in denying one capital offense admits another and is sentenced to death. He 
is hung. The girl often expresses the wish that she were armed so that she 
might fight for him. 

Examples: Belden (A); Davis (A); Randolph, OzF-S (D). 

B: The same general story is told in this type. However, in some texts, 
upon her arrival at the prison the lady is offered aid by an old man. At any 
rate, the king or judge says she has come too late and that Geordie is already 
condemned for horse or deer stealing. Geordie is hung in silk robes (or 
similar suitable style) because he is of royal blood and loved by a virtuous 
lady. The wish of the girl that she had weapons with which to fight for her 
lover is sometimes found in this type too. 

Examples: Cox, Greenleaf and Mansfield. 

C: The story is the same as that of Type A. However, it is told differently, 
and the ransom and the girl's pleas are successful so that Charlie and his 
Sally go free. 

Examples: Flanders; Shoemaker, Mt Mnstly. 

D: This type of story rises from the traditional British texts in which 
Geordie is freed by his wife (true love). Geordie is in trouble. He sends a man 
to tell his lady of his plight. She hurries to the King and produces enough 
money to free her man. 

Examples: Randolph, OzF-S (C); Scarborough. 



A Critical^ Bibliographical SlwLy 12 7 

Discussion: Because of the existence of the Scottish traditional song, 
Geordie, and two not dissimilar broadsides Georgie Stools (early seventeenth 
century) and The Life and Death of George of Oxford (late seventeenth or 
early eighteenth century), this ballad presents a definite scholarly problem. 
(See Child, IV, 1237, 1402.) The chances are that the two broadsides re- 
present literary reworkings and contemporary adaptions of the old Scottish 
song. (See Cox, F-S South, 135.) However, Ebsworth, Roxburghe Ballads, 
VII, 67 73 thought the opposite to be the case. 

Although the ransom motif is generally vague or lacking and the crime 
charged may be murder, as well as stealing the king's cattle, the Type A-C 
American texts derive from George of Oxford and the variant British broad- 
sides. See Child, IV, 124 and 127, and JAFL, XX, 319. In the broadsides, 
the hero is hung in the end, although the girl's pleas are successful in the 
traditional texts as well as in the Green Mountain Songster version (Type C). 
Barry (see a letter quoted by Henry, F-S So Hghlds, 142 ff.) discusses this 
point in connection with the derivative songs such as the Henry The Judge 
and the Jury, op. cit., 142. 

The Type A-C American texts are difficult to classify. The Type A and 
Type B stories are certainly from the same broadside tradition, having many 
stanzas in common. However, in a narrative sense, they do fall into two 
classes, if only because of the material retained or forgotten in each group. 
Both these types contain stanzas that have not been traced to either the 
known broadsides or the traditional texts in Child. Type C, although it 
shares much material with Types A and B, seems to have an ancestor with a 
sentimentalized close. 

Type D texts are localized variants of the traditional form of the song, 
even though they seem to have passed unrecognized as such. Randolph, Oz 
F-S, C parallels Child F rather closely through its first seven stanzas and 
summarizes the story of Child F in the last four stanzas. Of course, Child F 
is not a pure example of the traditional form of the song, its first and second 
stanzas having been corrupted by the Oxford broadside, but it does tell the 
traditional tale. Randolph's variant has an Oxford first stanza like Child F, 
but from there on shows no relation to any form but the traditional. How- 
ever, certain localizations and repetitive features have clouded the identity 
to some degree. The Scarborough text (See Wetmore and Bartholomew, Mt 
Sgs NC, 13 for a very similar text taken from the same informant) is abbre- 
viated, but obviously related to the Randolph song. See SFLQ, XIII, 161-168. 

Chappell, F-S Rnke Alb, 37 prints a fragment called Johnny Wedlock (the 
Randolph text has the title George E. Wedlock). However, it is too brief to 
be clearly identified. 



1 28 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

210. BONNIE JAMES CAMPBELL 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 279 / Combs, F-S Etats-Unis, 144 / Davis, FS Va / JAFL, 
XVIII, 294. 

Local Titles: Bonnie George Campbell, Bonnie Johnnie Campbell, Willie Campbell. 

Story Types: A: The story is lost in Britain as well as in America, so that 
we only know that Bonnie James Campbell rode out armed one day and 
that, although his saddled horse came home, he did not. His bride, mother, 
etc., went out to meet him, but he was never to return. The place was un- 
cared for; his baby unborn. 

Examples: Barry (A, B), Combs (A, B). 

Discussion; The tale behind this ballad is unknown. Child, IV, 143 cites 
Motherwell's and Maidment's theories, and Barry, Brit Bids Me, 281 re- 
constructs the story as it stands in the known fragments. 

The American texts are similar to those in Child and show a close re- 
lationship with the versions given in Smith's Scotish Minstrel, V, 42. See 
Barry, op. cit. 9 ^J<)i.i. for a discussion and comparison of the American and 
British versions, as well as a modification of some of Child's remarks. 

213. SIR JAMES THE ROSE 

Texts: American Speech, I, 481 / Barry, Brit Bids Me, 284 / MacKenzie, Bids Sea Sgs N 
Sc t 48. 

Local Titles: Sir James the Rose, Sir James the Ross. 

Story Types: A: The Ross Story: James the Ross learns at a meeting in 
the woods with his true love Matilda that she must marry the hated John 
Grames on her father's orders. Donald Grames overhears the conversation 
between the lovers and, after the girl departs, makes himself known to Ross. 
Ross kills the eavesdropper. Fearful of revenge by the Grames clan, Ross 
then sets out to get aid from his kinsman, stopping en route to awaken 
Matilda and tell her what he has done. She detains him and hides him, saying 
that a page will rouse his clansmen. The page, however, meets John Grames 
on the way, tells him what has taken place, and is bribed into revealing 
James' whereabouts. When the Grames come to Matilda's house, they find 
Ross sleeping in the wood much to the dismay of the girl. Ross is able to kill 
four (or fifteen) of his attackers before John Grames stabs him from behind. 
Matilda then kills herself, and the page follows suit. 

Examples: Am Speech, I, 481; Barry; MacKenzie (A, B). 

Discussion: The Child Sir James the Rose ballad is not in America. The 
American texts are highly sophisticated and based on Sir James the Ross, a 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study 129 

song Child, IV, 156 thought to have been composed by Michael Bruce. 
Barry, Brit Bids M?, 290 i, citing Alexander Keith (editor) in Greig's Last 
Leaves of Traditional Bids, points out that both the Ross (not in Child's 
collection) and Rose (which Child printed) ballads are derived from eight- 
eenth century broadsides and stall copies and that Michael Bruce is mis- 
takenly considered the composer of the former. He also points out on Keith's 
authority that the Ross version has ousted the Rose in Scotland and that 
his American copy of Ross is identical with the 1768 and oldest known 
Scottish (150 S'cots Songs, London, 1768) text of the story. His version being 
that old and well established in oral tradition, Barry therefore rates the 
Ross texts as a primary, rather than a secondary, form of the story in 
America. Also see MacKenzie, Bids Sea Sgs N Sc, 48. MacKenzie's A version 
is particularly sophisticated. The Pound, American Speech, Nebraska version 
does not differ materially from the northern texts. 



214. THE BRAES OF YARROW 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 291 / Cox, F-S South, 137 / Siegmeister, Sgs Early Am, 4.0. 
Local Titles: The Dewy Dens of Yarrow. 

Story Types: A: Seven sons, two of them twins, battle for their true love 
in the dens of Yarrow. The girl dreams she has been gathering pretty heather 
blooms in Yarrow. Her mother reads her dreams to mean that her Jimmy 
has been slain. The girl then searches him up and down through Yarrow and 
finds him dead behind a bush. She washes his face, combs his hair, bathes 
the wound, and, wrapping her yellow hair about his waist, pulls him home. 
She tells her mother to make her death-bed, and, although her mother 
promises her a better love than the one slain, she dresses in clean white 
clothes, goes to the river, and lies down to die on the banks. 

Examples: Siegmeister. 

Discussion: The story in Child is that of a girl who dreams she has been 
pulling heather on the braes of Yarrow and wishes her true-love not to go 
to the highlands as she fears her cruel brother will betray him for stealing 
her from her family (other similar reasons are given in certain texts). Never- 
theless, while drinking the night before, he has pledged himself to a fight on 
the braes at dawn and sets out in spite of her pleas. At Yarrow, he is at- 
tacked by nine of her family and, although killing four and wounding five, 
is knifed to death from behind. One of the brothers then goes to tell the 
sister of the deed. She hastens to the braes and, seeing her lover dead, faints 
and/or drinks his blood, kisses him, and combs his hair in her grief. She either 



1 30 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

ties her own three-quarter-length hair about her neck and chokes herself 
to death, takes her lover's body home and pregnant dies of a broken heart, 
or refuses the sympathy offered her by her father. In some versions, she 
curses the oxen and kye that have caused the original trouble between the 
two families. (See Child, IV, 164.) 

The Type A text does not follow the Child texts (A-L) summarized above, 
but rather seems a variation of the Q-S ( The Dowie Dens of T arrow) series, a 
group of texts in which ten lovers fight over a girl and in which the father or 
sister is the dream-reader and clairvoyant of the lover's death. The two 
titles (Siegmeister's in Sgs Early Am and Child's, Q-S) are almost identical, 
"dewy" replacing "dowie". The fight among the seven sons over the girl is 
a logical step from the confused ten lovers beginning in Child Q-S. The pre- 
sence of the mother, instead of the father or sister, as reader of the dream and 
encourager of the bereft girl, is no great change, particularly when we note 
the insertion of the "make my bed" cliche in the Siegmeister text and re- 
member the similarity of this situation to the ones in Barbara Allen (Child 
84) and Lady Alice (Child 85) where the mother is present. And, finally, the 
girl does die in both Child Q and S, even though the dressing in white and 
the return to the river are not in Child. 

The other American texts cannot be traced to Child's The Braes of Yarrow- 
with any finality. Cox, F-S South, 137 points out that his West Virginia text, 
which came to America from Scotland, is from the William Hamilton poem 
that Ramsay printed on p. 242 of the third or London edition of the Tea- 
Table Miscellany, 1733. (See also Anderson's British Poets, Edinburgh, 1794, 
IX, 426.) This poem is noted by Child, IV, 163, footnote to have affected his 
J, K, and particularly L versions. Hamilton based it on the ballad story, and 
it consists of a conversation between three speakers. A man is requesting a 
bride to forget her past and rejoice in him, while a friend wonders why she 
is so sad and what story lies behind the situation. It is then revealed that the 
man has slain the girl's lover on the braes of Yarrow, and she cannot forgive 
him or forget. The poem ends indefinitely with the new lover still trying to 
persuade the girl of the futility of her mourning. The Cox text retains this- 
story, although it is incomplete and the speakers are not marked as in the- 
poem. Stanzas I 6 (Cox i 6) and 1516 (Cox 78) are reproduced with 
almost no textual variation. Thus the lyricism and poetic style of the so- 
phisticated work have been retained in oral tradition. 

The Child Braes of T arrow undoubtedly came over to Maine in a tradi- 
tional form. Barry, Brit Bids Me, 291 reports a stanza from what he terms 
a lost version of Child 214 in a song sung by a Maine woman to the tune of 
Barbara Allen. The stanza, which begins "Last night I made my bed so wide,. 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study 1 3 1 

Tonight I'll make it narrow", is similar to Stanza 19 in Quid L, but is also 
of a very conventional nature. Barry also prints a fragment that contains 
the word "Yarrow" and a stanza similar to one that Child, IV, 179, thought 
had intruded into Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow (Child 215) from 214. 
See Child 215 in this study. And, finally, he found another Maine woman 
who had heard Child A of The Braes of Yarrow sung in Ireland in her youth. 

215. RARE WILLIE DROWNED IN YARROW or THE WATER o GAMRIE 
Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 292 (listed as Barry B of Child 214) / Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 69. 
Local Titles: Yarrow. 

Story Types: A.: A girl's betrothed lover has gone hunting and sent a letter 
back to her that he is too young to marry. She ominously dreams that she 
is pulling heather on the braes of Yarrow.' She then goes searching for her 
lover and finds him drowned. She wraps her long yellow hair about his waist 
and pulls him out of Yarrow. 

Examples: Eddy. 

Discussion: This ballad has become confused with The Braes of Yarrow in 
Britain as well as in this country. The story of Rare Willie in Child is as 
follows: Willie, his mother's darling, fails (in most cases) to get parental 
blessing for his marriage. On the way to church, he is washed from his horse 
while crossing a river or some such body of water. The bride, hearing what 
has happened, sets out to find the missing groom. In texts A, B, and C, 
which do not give many preliminary details, she discovers the body in the 
cleft of a rock and by wrapping her three-quarter-length hair about Willie's 
waist draws him from the water (B, C). 

The three "southern" versions of the story (A, B, C) are said by Child, 
IV, 178, to be the older tradition of this ballad. It is probable that these 
texts, which now only state that Willie is to marry the girl, originally con- 
tained a similar, if not identical, story background to the one given above 
from the "northern" texts. Child also points out that the wrapping of the 
hair about the lover's waist in his 215 B and C belongs to 214, as do the 
"dream", the "letter", and "the wide and narrow bed" stanzas of the six 
stanza 215 C. In short, four of the half dozen stanzas of this version of Rare 
Willie have come from The Braes of Yarrow. The situation becomes further 
confused when he notes (IV, 163) that the drowning of 214!, probably be- 
longs to 215, 

The Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 69 text is printed under the contradictory head- 
ing Rare Willie Drowned in T arrow, Child 214. This text is, in reality, close 
to Child 215 C, which, as noted above, has been badly corrupted by 214 and 

10* 



I J2 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

undoubtedly brought with, it across the ocean the large amount of borrowed 
material. As the Eddy notes and remarks (see pp. 6970) seem to reveal 
some confusion on this point and as Rare Willie is rare indeed in this country, 
I have compiled a stanza by stanza analysis of the Ohio text. 

The first stanza of the Ohio song is closely paralleled in all four lines by 
the opening stanzas of both Child 215 A and C. The second Ohio stanza is 
not to be found in Child 215, but it is of a conventional sort that turns up 
frequently in love song. These lines are probably a corruption, although the 
fact that they mention the hunt is of interest as almost all the Child 214 
texts include this feature. The third Ohio stanza is quite like the second 
stanza of Child 21 5 C, which lends extra credance to the corruption theory 
for Ohio Stanza 2. The second stanza of 215 C is one of those that Child be- 
lieved to have been borrowed from The Braes of T arrow. The fourth Ohio 
stanza relates to Child 214 in that the girl goes up a hill to spy her lover and 
is closest to 214 J, Stanza 14 of all the Child stanzas in the two ballads. The 
drowning, however, is like 215, and thus like 214!, also, while the use of a 
rock as the repository of the body is in 215 A and B. The final Ohio stanza 
compares closely to 21 5 C, Stanza 5 and 2156, Stanza 2. This evidence 
would serve to indicate that the Ohio text is a version of Child 215 and per- 
haps a variant of 21 5 C. 

\ Barry, Brit Bids Me > 292 prints a fragment containing the line "Between 
two hills of Yarrow", beginning with lines similar to Child 215 A, Stanza 2, 
and*mentioning Willie. See also Child 214!!, Stanza 17. Child said that his 
215 A, Stanza 2 had entered Rare Willie from his 214, and, therefore, Barry 
has seen fit to put the fragment under the title The Braes of T arrow. 



217. THE BROOM OF COWDENKNOWES 
Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 293. 
Local Titles: None given. 

Story Types: A: A group of gentlemen ride past a milkmaid, and one of 
them stops to seduce her. He gives her three guineas when he is through and 
says if he is not back in half a year that she must look no more for him. She 
shows him the highway by Tay and he departs. Her father suspects her when 
she returns home, but she denies anyone has been with her. 

Examples : Barry. 

Discussion: The Maine fragment ends upon the denial by the girl that 
anyone has been with her. The Child A text, close to the Maine song, rounds 
out the story as known to one Maine Irishwoman in her youth. See Barry, 



A Critical, Bibliographical Study 133 

Brit Bids Me, 295. A few months later, the girl is out with the sheep when 
another group of riders comes by. One, to her shame, asks her who got her 
with child. This man subsequently reveals himself to be the lover and turns 
out to be a very rich one at that. 

There is a popular song, not traditional however, of similar name and 
story structure also known in Maine. See Child, IV, 192 and 208. Consult 
also The Warbler (Peter Edes, printer), Augusta, Me., 1805. 

218. THE FALSE LOVER WON BACK 

Texts: Belden, Mo F-S, 78 / Golden Book, IX, 50 / JAFL, XXXIV, 395. 
Local Titles: The True Lover. 

Story Types: A: A girl watches her lover pass her door and asks him where 
he is going. He replies that he is on his way to woo a girl lovelier than she. 
She is philosophical about his fickleness, but warns him that she will turn 
to other men. Then she follows him, and at each town he buys her a present 
and tells her to go home. She persists, and finally he buys her a wedding 
gown. Examples: Belden. 

Discussion: This ballad is not easy to find in America. The Missouri text 
is like Child A. However, John Moore (JAFL, XXXIV, 396) points out that 
the Missouri version suppresses three stanzas in which the girl persistently 
asks her lover if he will not be fond of her again and one stanza in which he 
says she can turn to other men if she wishes but he will be true to his new 
love. These four stanzas all appear in Child 218 A. 

219. THE GARDENER 

Reed Smith lists this ballad among the survivals of the Child ballads in 
America. See SFLQ, I, $2, 9 n. I have not, however, been able to find a 
published text. Child, V, 258 9 indicates that this song, Seeds of Love, and 
A Spring of Thyme have exchanged material. Some of The Gardener may 
have entered America in one of these two works. 

221. KATHERINE JAFFRAY 

Texts: Katharine Jafjray: Brown Coll / Minish Mss. 

Squire of Edinborougb: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 400 / Child, IV, 218 (headnote) / 
Creighton, Sgs Bids N Sc, 22 / Flanders, New Gn Mt Sg$tr, 141, 

Local Titles: Katherine Jeffrys. 

A Scotch Ditty, Katherine Joffray, The Squire of Edinboroughtown- 

Story Types: A: Lord Willie courts Katherine and gains the consent of 
her parents to the marriage. Although promised, the girl falls in love with 



1 34. British Traditional Ballad in North America 

a second, dashing suitor. Lord Robert from across the border. She says that 
she will marry him if there is any way. Robert thus attends the wedding as 
a guest, saying simply that he came because he wished to see Kate on her 
wedding day. Katherine toasts Robert with a glass of wine, and at that sign 
the lover takes the girl by her white hand and grass green sleeve, and they 
flee, galloping over the border. "Her kin did them no harm". 

Examples : Minish Mss. 

B: The Squire of Edinborough type: A girl, ready to marry a squire's lad, 
is forced to accept another gentleman. She writes her lover of her plight, and 
he sends lis answer with a ring, telling her to wear green at her nuptials. She 
answers that she will marry him in spite of all. On the wedding day, the 
lover brings a large group of men and attends the ceremony. He mock-toasts 
the groora, and, in response to the latter's challenge to a fight, asks for a kiss 
from the bride, after which he promises to leave. The request granted, he 
slips his arm about the girl and whisks her away to Edinborough. 
Examples: Barry (A), Creighton, Flanders. 

Discussion: Hie Type A text, a rare find in this country, follows the Child 
A version closely for ten stanzas, although it displays some contact with 
print. The battle at Cowden Banks is omitted, however, and the lovers 
merely escape in the North Carolina version. Also, the Scottish-English 
rivalry is no longer a feature of the song, even if the border locale is still 
discernable. 

The Squire of Edinboroughtown is a later remodelling of Katherine Jaffray, 
probably from print. See Child, IV, 2178. This song (Type B) has survived 
in both Scottish and Irish versions in Northeastern United States and Canada. 

Flanders, New Gn Mt Sgstr, 144 suggests that Katherine J affray was re- 
composed in Scotland as The Squire, but the wearing of green by the bride 
(see Child, IV, 218) surely points to Irish tradition for those texts that in- 
clude it. No Scots girl would dare clothe herself in that "ill-starred" color. 



225. ROB ROY 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 296. 
toed Titles: Rob Roy. 

Story Types: A: Rob Roy attacks a border house to carry off as his wife 
a woman who detests him. He surrounds the place, enters, and takes the 
girl from her mother's embrace, although she refuses to go willingly. 

Examples: Barry. 



A Critical, Bibliographical Study 135 

Discussion: The Canadian fragment consists of the first five stanzas of 
Child A and was not sung. The Child song continues the story through the 
forced marriage, the return to Scotland, Rob Roy's departure for France, 
and his promise to teach the girl to dance. The ballad is based on history (see 
Child, IV, 243 5). Robert Oig abducted Jean Key, a young, rich widow, and 
forced her to marry him in 1750. Four years later he was taken and executed. 



226. LIZIE LINDSAY 

Texts: Advertiser (Aurora, Mo.), 5 22 '41, 2 / Barry, Brit Elds Me, 297 / Brewster, 
Bids Sgs Ind, 135 / Cox, Trd Bid W Va, 36 / Randolph, Os F-S, I, 164. 
Local Titles: Leezie Lindsay, New Yealand. 

Story Types: A: There are a few extremely abbreviated versions of the 
Child story in America. A man asks a girl to go to the highlands with him. 
She refuses, for she knows neither him nor his home. However, the girPs 
maid wishes she were in a position to accept the man's offer. The girl then 
dresses up und leaves with her suitor. Upon their arrival at his home, she is 
shown the land into which she has married. The real story seems forgotten. 
Examples: Brewster, Randolph. 

B : A little lyric request of a lover, in which he asks a girl "to go to the 
highlands", exists as a song. She refuses. 

Examples : Barry. 

Discussion: A derivative of Lizie Lindsay is to be found in this country. 
But, because of the fragmentary nature of some of the texts, it is difficult 
to be certain just how much of the traditional song is and has been in 
America. Barry, Brit Bids Me, 298 9 discusses this point in some detail in 
connection with his northern fragments. It seems certain that a few stanzas 
of the traditional ballad have come over in the derivative form of the song, 
and the incomplete Indiana, West Virginia,, and Arkansas texts appear to 
be genuine. 

In the Child B version we are told how a young nobleman goes to get a 
wife in Edinburgh under the disguise of being a shepherd. The girl selected 
is reluctant to leave home and go with a poor stranger, but is persuaded to 
do so by her maid. She goes and is homesick, but learns the next day on 
getting up to milk the kye that she has married a rich man. 

The Blaeberry Courtship, the song derived from Lizie Lindsay, exists in 
a number of American versions. See JAFL, XXXV, 345 from Illinois and 
MacKenzie, Bids Sea Sgs N Sc, 69 from Nova Scotia. This story tells of an 



136 British Traditional Ballad in North America. 

educated and disguised Highlander who convinces a lowland girl to go with 
him against her parents' advice and who makes her a great lady. The "milk 
cows" refrain allies it closely to Child 226. 

The New Brunswick text, which may be influenced by both the tradition 
of the Child ballad and the derivative song, has lost the story and retains 
only a four-stanza request "to go to the highlands". The Arkansas version 
consists of a single stanza of request and a second stanza concerning the 
departure which is somewhat similar to Child C, Stanza 12. Nor can the 
Indiana fragment be allied directly to any Child version, although it re- 
sembles Child, IV, 524 in the first stanza and the name of the hero, Donald 
MacDonald. The West Virginia text is quite similar to this one. 



233. ANDREW LAMMIE 

Texts: MacKenzie, Bids Sea Sgs N Sc y 60. 
Local Titles: None given. 

Story Typts: A: A fragmentary story of a girl whose father beats her, and 
whose mother and brother scorn and mistrust her. Her love died for her 
today; she will die for him tomorrow. 

Examples : MacKenzie. 

Discussion: This Nova Scotia fragment, which was received in two parts 
from two singers, is closest to the Child C text. The story, as told there, is of 
a rich miller's daughter who falls in love with a trumpeter in the service of 
Lord Fyvie. She wants to marry him, but finds the match scorned by her 
father. When the trumpeter has to go to Edinburgh for a time, the girl Annie, 
knowing she will die before he returns, plans a tryst with him at a bridge. 
(In Scotland, lovers who part at a bridge shall never meet again.) He says 
he will buy her a wedding gown while away, and they are to marry on his 
return. But she bids him farewell forever. The trumpeter goes to the top of 
the castle and blows a blast that is heard in the girl's home. Her parents beat 
her, and her brother breaks her back. Lord Fyvie passes and tries to con- 
vince the miller to change his mind, but to no avail. The father insists on a 
better match. The girl is put to bed where she dies of a broken heart. The 
father laments, and Andrew, on his return, dies of grief. However, in the 
New World fragment we have an example of a cliche ("make my bed") over- 
riding the story to the extent that the lover is said to have died before his 
true love. 



A Critical, Bibliographical Study 137 

236. THE LAIRD DRUM 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 300 / Gardner and Chickering, Bids Sgs So Micb> 149. 
Local Titles: The Laird (Knight) and the Shepherd's Daughter, The Laird o' Drum. 

Story Types: A: A nobleman out hunting spies a sliepherd's lass who 
immediately captivates him. In the New Brunswick text, he offers to marry 
her and, in spite of her protests that he is joking, says he will go with her to 
herd sheep. Examples: Barry, Gardner and Chickering. 

Discussion: The event, the marriage of Alexander Irvine to a woman of 
mean birth against his family's wishes, on which this ballad is based is given 
in Child, IV, 322. The American fragments have lost the story to some extent 
and, except for the last stanza in the New Brunswick version, make no 
reference to the family's objections. This Canadian stanza and its lines "For 
it's herdin' sheep on yon hillside I'll gang wi' you my lovely Nancy" could 
result in a change in the story. 

Barry, Brit -Bids Me, 301 points out that the Child versions of this ballad 
fall into two groups : the older forms that stick close to history (A, C, D, E, 
etc.) and the more recent forms which do not mention the suitor by name 
and do not indicate a previous marriage (B). The Canadian fragment shows 
influence from both groups, but follows the recent tradition more closely. 
Child, IV, 122 suspects his B version to have been contaminated by a song 
in the Motherwell Mss. concerning an earl and a shepherd's daughter. The 
Canadian fragment reflects the influence of this song, too, in the fact that 
the suitor's father is alive. (Barry, op. cit., 301 3.) 

Gardner and Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mich, 149 indicate that Robert 
Chambers (ed.) in The Songs in Scotland Prior to Burns (London, 1862), 
440 I names a song with identical words to the Michigan fragment which 
was composed by a well-born vagabond, Jean Glover. The text also re- 
sembles the Canadian fragment. Stanza 3 of the Michigan text is almost 
identical to Stanza 3 of the Canadian. 

24.0. THE RANTIN LADDIE 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 303 / Combs, F-S Etats-Unis, 145. 
Local Titles: The Rantin' Laddie. 

Story Types: A: A poor girl, with a dubious past, has a bastard child by 
a nobleman. Her family scorns her; so she sends one of her father's servants 
to tell her "laddie" of her plight. He responds gallantly and sends a retinue 
to fetch the girl, Maggie, home as his bride. 

Examples: Combs. 



138 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

B : A short song remains from the ballad. It implies a dubious past and 
a bastard child of the girl. 

Examples: Barry. 

Discussion: The Combs, F-S Etats-Unis, version follows 'Child A and C in 
story, while the Canadian fragment represents a lyric remain which contains 
only the first stanza of the actual ballad. A "hush-a-by" refrain, unknown 
elsewhere to this song, rounds out the piece. 

243. JAMES HARRIS or THE DAEMON LOVER 

Texts: Adventure, 730 '23, 191 / Barry, Brit Bids Me, 304. / Belden, Mo F-S, 79 / 
BTew$ter,ldsSgsInd, 136; Brown Coll/ JBFSSNE, VI, 7; VII, io/ Bull U Sc#i62,$pu [ 
Chappell, F-S Rnke Alb, 38 / Child, IV, 361 / Cox, F-S South, 139 / Cox, Trd Bid W Va, 38 / 
Cox, W. Va. School Journal and Educator, XLIV, 388 / Crabtree, Overton Cnty, 208 / Cutting, 
Adirondack Cnty, 69 / Davis, 7rd Bid Fa, 439 / Dean, The Flying Cloud, 55 / Duncan, No 
Hamilton Cnty, 91 / Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 70 / Flanders, Garl Gn Mt Sg, 80 / Flanders, New 
Gn Mt Sgstr, 95 / Focus, IV, 162 / Gardner and Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mich, 54 / Garrison, 
Searcy Cnty, 27 / Gilbert, Lost Chords, 35 / Grapurchat, East Radford (Va.) State Teachers 
College, 8 25 '32 / Alberta P. Hannum, Thursday April, 89 / Harper's Mgz (May, 1915), 
91 1 / Henry, F-S So Hghlds, 1 16 / Henry, Sgs Sng So Aplcbns, 59 / Hudson, F-S Miss, 119 / 
Hudson, Spec Miss F-L, # 19 / Hummel, Oz F-S / JAFL, XVIII, 207; XIX, 295 ; XX, 257; 
XXV, 274 ; XXVI, 360; XXX, 325 ; XXXV, 347; XLIX, 209; XHI, 274; XLV, 21 ; XL VIII, 
295; LII, 465 LVII, 74 / Luther, Amcns Their Sgs, 17 / Macintosh, So III F-S, 33 / Mason, 
Cannon Cnty, 19 / Minish Mss / MLN, XIX, 238 / Mod Phil, II, 575 / Morris, F-S Flo, 464 / 
Musick, F-L Kirksville, io / Neal, Brown Cnty, 69 / New York broadside: "The House Car- 
penter" (J. Andrews, N.Y., c. 1850) / Owens, Studies Tex F-S, 34/ Ozark Life, V, #8 / Perry, 
Carter Cnty, 160 / Pound, Am JBlds Sgs, 43 / Pound, Neor Syllables, io / PTFLS, X, 159 / 
Randolph, OzF-S, I, i66/ Randolph, OzMtFlk, 201 / Sandburg, Am Sgbag, 66 / Scarborough, 
Sgctchr So Mts, 150 / SharpC, EngF-S So Aplchns, #29 / SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplchns, I, 
244 / Shearin and Combs, Ky Syllabus, 8 / SFLQ, II, 75; VIII, 160 / Reed Smith, SC Bids, 
151 / Smith and Rufty, Am Anth Old Wrld Bids, 44 / Stout, F-L la, 11 / Thomas, Devil's 
Ditties, 172 / Va FLS Bidl, ^fes 2 12 / Wilson, Bckzods Am, 96 / Wyman and Brockway, 
20 Ky Mt Sgs, 54. 

Local Titles: A Warning for Married Women, James Harris, Little Closet Door, (Well 
Met, Well Met) My Old True Love, On the Banks of the Sweet Laurie, The Banks of Claudy, 
The Carpenter's Wife, The Daemon Lover, The House Carpenter, The Faithless Wife, The 
House Carpenter's Wife, The Salt Salt Sea, The Salt Water Sea, The Sea Captain, The Ship 
Carpenter. 

Story Types: A: A sailor returns home and, though faithful himself even 
to the point of refusing a princess, finds his true love happily married to a 
carpenter. However, by promises and cajoling, he persuades the woman to 
leave her husband and children and sail off with him. She consents, but soon 
regrets leaving her baby and sometimes envisions torment that is in store 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study j 39 

for her. lite ship sinks. Often, a stanza is added telling of her contrition or 
of the condition of her deserted babe and husband. But curses on deceiving 
men and warnings to erring women also conclude various texts. 

Examples: Barry (A), Belden (C), Davis (B), SharpK (A). 

B : The story is similar to that of Type A. However, the demonaic quality 
of the lover is still evident to some degree through his ability to interpret 
the woman's vision, or through some similar hint. 

Examples: Davis (M, N), Scarborough (D, E), SharpK (B, L). 

C: The usual story is told. However, after the lover identifies Heaven and 
Hell "where you and I must go", he sinks the ship purposely. 
Examples: PTFLS, X, 161 (B). 

D: The story is similar to that of Type A. However, the girl leaps over- 
board and drowns, while the lover goes down with the ship. 

Examples: Cox, F-S South (D); Eddy (A); PTFLS, X, 161 (A). 

E : The usual story is told. However, the boat does not sink, although the 
girl rues her decision to run away. This type is of course the result of frag- 
mentation. Examples : ChappeLL 

F: A type of story, independent of 'The House Carpenter tradition, has 
been found. In this type George Allis reminds the wife of her late promises 
that she would go with him in seven years and a day. She goes, in what 
prove to be golden ships with silken sails, but is "sorry sore" on seeing the 
banks of Claudy where seven ships sink to the bottom and are never more 
seen. Allis is clearly a ghost, but his demonaic qualities are not made fully 
apparent- Examples ; SFSSNE, VI, 9. 

Discussion: The story of the Child (IV, 361) versions is that of Jane 
Reynolds and a sailor, James Harris, who exchange marriage vows. The 
young man is pressed into service and reported dead after three years. Jane 
marries a ship carpenter, and they live happily for four years and have 
children. One night when the carpenter is absent from home, a spirit raps 
on the window and says that he is James Harris come to clain his love after 
seven long years. She explains what has happened, but consents to go 
where he says he can support her well. In most versions, she repents on 
shipboard, but the boat goes down and she dies in one manner or another. 
Anyway, she is never heard of again, and her husband hangs himself. 



140 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

In America, the lover and the wife (except for the "Fair Ellen" name that 
seems to have drifted into the song from Lord Thomas and Fair Annet; see 
Davis, Trd Bid Fa, E, F, K, N, Q) have lost their names (Type A). The 
carpenter is usually a "house" carpenter and not a "ship" carpenter. (In 
Gilbert's text the ship carpenter steals the house carpenter's wife.) The 
action before the arrival of the spirit and the aftermath concerning the death 
of the carpenter are left out. And the demonaic nature of the lover has been 
rationalized. In connection with this final point, a number of versions (Type 
B) retain vestiges of the eerie lover in the form of the "hills of heaven" 
stanzas (Child E and F), although the cloven foot is not present. The PTFLS, 
X, 161, B version (Type C) follows Child E and F somewhat further in that 
the lover sinks the ship to get to Hell. Type D stories show a variation not 
in Child, as the grief of the girl reaches a suicidal peak. This change seems 
to me to be a sentimentalization. Type E is caused by omission and could 
result from the cutting short of any text. However, such abbreviation might 
well be important enough to cause a new version. Type F follows Child A in 
keeping the name of the lover and, with the text in Greig, Last Leaves Tradi- 
tional Bid, 196, is one of the few versions surviving that is not a part of The 
House Carpenter tradition. The text was also recognized by an Irish woman 
in New York The miraculous gilded ship(s) is in Child A, B, C, and F. Check 
BFSSNE, VII, 10 for an additional line. 

Most American copies are close to the deMarsan (N. Y.) broadside (c. 
1860), printed by Barry in JAFL, XVIII, 207. This text resembled Child B 
most closely. Belden, Mo F-S, 79 expresses the opinion that print has per- 
petuated this ballad orally, and on p. 80 he discusses the Missouri American 
texts in detail. Davis, op. cit. y 439 also is a source of information. 

James Harris has been subject to much corruption in its American travels. 
Davis, op. cit., 440, 4631!. discusses these changes and prints examples. His 
list o corrupting songs includes The False Young Man, The True Lover's 
Farewell, The Rejected Lover, The Wagoner's Lad, Cold Winter's Night, and 
Careless Love. See also the Duncan, No Hamilton Cnty, "Little Closet Door" 
text, p. 91 and the Corruption Chart at the end of this paper. 

It should be noted that in only a few American versions does the girl 
weep for her husband. (See Belden, op. cit., C and Davis, op. cit., I.), and in 
Davis, op. cit., the girl refuses to go, but leaves anyway. Also note the 
change in the first stanza ("I could have married a railroader. . . but I 
married a house carpenter") in Cox, Trd Bid W Va, 12 (D). 

There is no parallel European tradition of this ballad. However the Danes 
have a song concerning a treacherous woman, and the English song did 
originate in Scotland two facts that may or may not be related. 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study 141 

248. THE GREY COCK or SAW YOU MY FATHER ? 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 310 / Isaiah Thomas Collection, Worcester Mass, III, 50 / 
SharpC, Eng F-S So Apkbns, #30 / SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplchns, I, 259. 
Local Titles: None given. 

Story Types: A: A girl awaits her lover. After some confused hindrances, 
lie comes to the door when all are asleep. She lets him in, pledges to love 
him, and entreats the cock not to crow too early. The lover is obviously a 
ghost. From Child we know that the cock crows too early, and the tryst is 
ended too soon. Examples: Barry. 

B : A girl is thinking of her lover and weeping for her parents, when the 
lover comes. Finding all the doors shut, he rings. She gets up and lets him in. 
They go to bed, and, in spite of the girl's entreaties, the fowls crow two hours 
too early. She sends her love away by moonlight, asking him when he will 
return. He replies a ballad "never", and she berates herself for thinking him 
to be true. The ghostly mood is gone; the song is just another night assign- 
ation story. Examples : SharpK. 

Discussion: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 313 capably refutes the tendency to 
place this ballad in the aube tradition (see Child, headnote; C. R. Basker- 
ville, PMLA, XXXVI, 565 ff.) and shows that the bird belongs to Celtic 
(from Oriental) folklore. He also prints an old song, The Lover's Ghost, on 
p. 312, op. cit., from Joyce's Old Irish Music, 219 that is connected to The 
Grey Cocky if not to the extent that Barry claims. See also the intrusion of 
Child 248 into Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight (Child 4) in the Minish Mss. 

In the American versions, the ghostly nature of the lover is almost gone. 
Particularly, in the SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplchns, is this feature obscured, 
only the fowls (not even cocks) as the signal for the lover to leave remains of 
the supernatural elements. 

Type A is very close to the Child text, but Type B is noticeably different, 
though the basic outline of the story is the same. 

George P. Jackson, Spiritual F-S Early Am, 44 points out that Anne 
Gilchrist (JFSS, VIII, 6591) has stated that this song and the religious 
song, Saw Te My Saviour ? are closely related. 



250. HENRY MARTYN 
This ballad has been treated under Sir Andrew Barton (Child 167). 



142 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

252, THE KITCHIE-BOY 

Reed Smith (SFLQ, I, # 2, 9 n) included this ballad on his list of Child 
ballads that have survived in this country. I have not, however, been able 
to locate a published text. 

Attention should be directed, nevertheless, to W. R. Nelles* article in 
JAFL, XXII, 42 ff. on Hind Horn in which he discusses The KitMe~Boy 
as an off-shoot of the Horn tradition. See the chart on p. 59 in his article. 

266. JOHN THOMPSON AND THE TURK 
See Vermont Historical Society, Proceedings, N. S., VII, 73 98. 

267. THE HEIR OF LINNE 

?**&: Davis, Trd Bid 7 a, 479 / 7 a FLS Bull, #6. 
Local Titles: The Heir of Linne. 

Story Types: A: The heir of Linne sells his land to John o' Scales and 
squanders money for nearly a year. Then he is forced to beg without much 
luck. He recalls a note that his father gave him for use in a time of dire need, 
and the message reveals three chests of money in a castle wall. He takes the 
gold and goes back to John as if he were poor. John's wife will not trust him 
with a single cent. One man offers to lend him money. John offers to resell 
the lands for one hundred marks less than the original sale price. Linne takes 
the bargain to the consternation of John and wife, makes the man who 
offered to lend him money a keeper of his forest, and promises never to put 
his estate in jeopardy again. 

Examples: Davis. 

Discussion: The Virginia version is derived from the text published by 
Percy in his Reliques (1765), II, 309 and (1794), H I2 ^- Thus the American 
form of the ballad is close to Child A, though much compressed and cor- 
rupted by some of the additions made by Percy and taken by him from The 
Drunkard's Legacy (see Child, V, 12 for a summary of the plot). The additions 
are noted by Davis, Trd Sid 7a> 479 to be the introduction of the "lone- 
some lodge", "the rope 35 , and "one hundred marks" instead of "twenty 
pounds". 

There is a North Carolina text (The Sea Contain) dealing with a sea- 
captain who appears poor and is rejected as a suitor for Polly's hand by the 
girl's mother. When he turns out rich, the mother does an about-face and 
even offers the couple a bed at once. He refuses and sets out to get drunk. 
, XXVIII, 156. The song is not uncommon. For similar stories see 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study 14.3 

JAFL XXV, 7 and Randolph, The Ozarks, 190. These songs may be con- 
sidered derivatives or distant relations to the Child ballad, at best; their 
original was the English broadside known as The Liverpool Landlady or 
Jack Tar, although Young Johnny or Johnny the Sailor are the common 
American titles. 

272. THE SUFFOLK MIRACLE 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me^ 314 / Brown Coll / BFSSNJE, V } 7 / Cox, F-S Soutb^ 152 / 
Davis, Trd Bid Fa, 482 / Duncan, No Hamilton Cnty, 98 / Flanders, New Gn Mt Sgstr, 86 / 
Morris, F-S Fla, 470 / Randolph, OzF-S, I, 179 / SharpC, Eng F-S So Aplchns.^i / ShaipK, 
Eng F-S So Aplchns, I, 262 / SFLQ, VIII, 162. 

Local Titles: A Lady Near New York Town, Jimmy and Nancy, Miss Betsy, The Holland 
Handkerchief, The Suffolk Miracle, There Was a Farmer. 

Story Types: A: A lovely girl who has fallen in love with a young man is 
sent far away by her father. The young man dies. After awhile he appears 
at the place where the girl is living. He is mounted on her father's horse and 
carries her mother's gear, and he says that he has come to take her home. 
As they ride, he complains of a headache, and she ties a handkerchief about 
his head. At home, the young man goes to put up the horse while she knocks 
on the door. The father is amazed to see her, and his amazement is greater 
when he learns how she arrived. Later, they find the horse alone and in a 
sweat. It is then decided to open the grave, and, sure enough, the hand- 
kerchief is found about the head of the twelve-months corpse. 
Examples: Davis (A, B), Flanders, SharpK (A). 

Discussion: Child, V, 58 ff. points out that the English text is not truly a 
popular ballad, but he has included it because it represents, in enfeebled 
form, a great European story. He summarizes a Cornwall prose tale on the 
same subject, which he states to be "much nearer to the Continental tale". 

The American versions follow the Child story, although they are more 
compact and leave out the death of the girl. As Morris (SFLQ, VIII, 162) 
points out, on the whole they show an improvement in the literary style and 
feeble narrative of Child's text. They also include a number of variations in 
narrative detail. The Cox, F-S South, 153 West Virginia version has lost the 
handkerchief sequence entirely. In the story as told by a Maine woman 
(Barry, Brit Bids Me, 314) the handkerchief is already around the dead 
man's head when he arrives at the girl's door. And the Morris (SFLQ, VIII, 
162) version has the unique feature of the wound which speaks and requests 
the lady to unloose the bonds binding it. , 

SharpK, Eng F-S So A$lchns 9 A version has a moral stanza at the be- 
ginning and end, while the Randolph, Oz F-S, A text is quite corrupt. 



1^4 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

For a discussion of the superiority of northern American versions and the 
relation of southern American versions to the "sophisticated Child A" see 
Barry in SFSSNE, V, 10. 

273. KING EDWARD THE FOURTH AND THE TANNER OF TAMWORTH 

Reed Smith, SC Bids, 171 4 lists this song among the American survivals 
of Child ballads. I have been unable to find a published text. However, as 
the song is not on Smith's subsequent SFLQ, I, $2, 911 list, I believe the 
first entry to be a mistake. 

274. OUR GOODMAN 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 315 / Belden, Mo F-S, 89 / Brewster, Bids Sgs Ind, 149 / 
Brown Coll / Bull Tenn FLS, VIII, #3, 72 / Chappell, F-S Rnke Alb, 41 / Cox, F-S South, 
154 / Cox, W. Va. School Journal and Educator, XLV, 58, 92 / Davis, Trd Bid Fa, 485 / 
Duncan, No Hamilton Cnty, 103 / Eddy, Bids Sgs Ohio, 82 / Finger, Frontier Bids, 161 / Haun, 
Cocke Cnty, 1 13 / Henry, Beech Mt F-S, 14 / Henry, F-S So Hgblds, 1 19 / Henry, Sgs Sng So 
Apkhns, 14 / Hudson, F-S Miss, 122 / Hudson, Spec Miss F-L, #20 / Hummel, Oz F-S / 
Jones, F-L Mich, 5 / JAFL, XVIII, 294; XXX, 199 / Linscott, F-S Old NE, 261 / Lomax and 
Lomax, Our Sngng Cntry, 300 / Luther, Amcns Their Sgs, 18 / MacKenzie, Bids Sea Sgs N 
Sc, 62 1 Musical Quarterly, II, 125 / Musick, F-L Kirksville, 14 / Parsons, F-T Andros Is, 162 / 
Randolph, Oz F-S, I, 181 / Randolph, Oz Mt Flk, 225 / Ring, Mid-Hudson Sg Verse, 3 / 
Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mts, 231 / SharpC, Eng F-S So Aplchns, #32 / SharpK, Eng F-S 
So Aplcbns, I, 267 / Reed Smith, SC Bids, 159 / SFLQ, V, 169 / Stout, F-L la, 13 / Va FLS 
Bull, :|s 25 / J. G. Whittier, Yankee Gypsies. 

Local Titles; A Blackguard Song, An Old Man Came Tumbling Home, Cairo Girl, Down 
Came the Old Man, Four Nights, Hobble and Bobble, Home Came the Old Man, Home Comes 
the (Good) (Old) Man, I Called to my Loving Wife, In Came the Gay Old Man, Kind Wife, 
Our (The) Goodman, Parson Jones, The Adulteress, The Old Man, Three Nights of Ex- 
perience, Third Night of Married Life, When I Come Home the Other Night. 

Story Types: A: A man returning home finds another man's horse, hat > 
sword, etc. standing where his should be. His wife tells him that his eyes are 
deceiving him, that the objects that he sees are really cows, churns, milk 
dashers, etc. However, he is not to be duped. 

Examples: Barry (A), Belden (A), Davis (A). 

B : The story and motif are indentical to those in Type A, except for the 
fact that the woman is entertaining three lovers. 

Examples: Davis (B); JAFL, XVIII, 294. 

C: The story and motif are identical to those in Type A. However, the 
action takes place on three or four consecutive nights. 

Examples : Henry, Sgs Sng So Aflchns; 
Lomax and Lomax; Scarborough (A, B). 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study 145 

Discussion: In America, the objects seen by the returning husband vary 
greatly, but the story itself is always approximately the same. Type A 
follows the outline of the Scottish Child A; Type B, that of English Child B ; 
while Type C seems to be a more recent variation. Duncan, No Hamilton 
Cnty, 102 notes that the song is often recited as a dialogue. See also JAFL, 
XXX, 199. 

The story, of course, readily lends itself to crudity and ribaldry. Cox, 
F-S South, points out that there are several such stanzas to be found in West 
Virginia and other states, while Randolph, OzF-S, I, 183, headnote, reports 
encountering a man who said he no longer sings certain verses of this song 
since he has joined the church. See Hudson, F-S Miss, 122 and Duncan, op. 
dt., 1 02 as well. 

The Sharp K, Eng F-S So Aplcbns, A version reveals the shrewish nature 
of the wife in the opening stanza. Davis, Tr d Bid Fa, 493 prints a Jacobite 
adaption from the British Navy in which the lover is a Tory cousin of the 
husband named Macintosh. See also Smith's Scotish Minstrel, IV, 66. 



275. GET UP AND BAR THE DOOR 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 318 / Brown Coll / Combs, F-S Etats-Unis, 147 / Cox, F-S 
South, 5x6 / Davidson's Universal Melodist, I, Z75 / Davis, Trd Bid Va, 495 / Gardner and 
dickering, Bids Sgs So Mich, 371 / Greenleaf and Mansfield, Bids Sea Sgs Newfdld, 41 / 
Jones, F-L Mich, 5 / Randolph, Oz F-S, 1, 186 / SFLQ, XIII, 170 / Va FLS Bull, # 9 . 

Local Titles: Arise and Bar the Door -O, Get Up and Bar the Door, John and Joan Blount, 
Old John Jones. 

Story Types: A: A housewife is boiling pudding when a cold wind blows 
the door open. The husband tells her to bar the door; however, she is busy 
and refuses. They agree that the first one who speaks must shut the door. 
Two travellers, attracted by the light from the open door, enter the house. 
Getting no reply to any of their questions or remarks, they eat and drink 
what they find. The husband and wife watch, saying nothing. One of the 
travellers proposes to take off the man's beard (and in some texts decides 
to use the hot pudding to soften it), while the other traveller plans to kiss 
the wife. This last proposal brings some words from the husband, and he has 
to bar the door. 

Examples: Barry (A), Combs, Gardner and Chickering. 

B : The story is essentially the same as that of Type A. However, the hus- 
band and wife get sleepy on home-brewed ale and go to bed forgetting to 
bar the door. The agreement is made, and the travellers come. They eat and 



14.6 British Traditional Ballad, in North America 

drink downstairs and then go up and pull the wife out of bed and begin to 
kiss her on the floor. This freedom is too much for the husband. 
Examples : Greenleaf and Mansfield. 

Discussion: The Type A texts follow the Child A and B story closely. 
However, Type B seems to be of a different sort from anything in Child. It 
resembles Child C in that the couple go to bed, there are three travellers, and 
the wife is laid on the floor, but the narrative is fuller and the door is not 
blown open, as in Child. 

The fragmentary B version in Randolph's Oz F-S indicates that the men 
actually shave off the husband's beard. 

Crude lyrics are easily and often inserted into this ballad. For other tales 
of the same sort see Child, V, 96 8. For a burlesque of the ballad see Dele- 
hanty and Hengler's Song and Dance Book (1874), 169. 

277. THE WIFE WRAPT IN WETHER'S SKIN 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 322 / Bdden, Mo F-S, 92 / Brewster, Bids Sgs 2nd, 151 / 
Brown Coll / Bull Tenn FLS, VIII, #3, 74 / Child, V, 304 / Cox, F-S South, 1 59 / Cox, Trd 
BU W V&, 46 / Cox, W. Va. School Journal and Educator, XLV, 92 / Davis, Trd Bid Va, 497 / 
Downes and Siegmeister, Treasry Am Sg, 226 / Flanders, Garl Gn Mt Sg, 84 / Flanders, Vt 
F-S Bids, 222, 224 / Focus, V, 280 / Gordon, F-S Am, 89 / Haun, Cocke Cnty, 78 / Henry, F-S 
So Hgbld$ y 125 / Hudson, F-S Miss, 123 / Hudson, F-T Miss, 12 / Hudson, Spec Miss F-L, 
#21 / JAFL, VII, 253 ; XIX, 298 ; XXX, 328 ; XXXIX, 109 ; XLVIII, 309 ; LVT, 103 / N.r. 
Times Mgz, i S '28 / Pound, Am Bids Sgs, 16 / Randolph, Oz F-S, I, 187 / Ring, NE F-S, 
8 / SharpC, Eng F-S So Aplcbns, #33 / SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplcbns, I, 271 / Shearin and 
Combs, Ky Syllabus, 8 / SFLQ, XIII, 172 / Smith and Rufty, Am Antb Old Wrld Bids, 49 / 
Fa FLS Butt, #s 4, 5, 7 10. Korson, Pa Sgs Lgds, 41, 

Local Titles: Bandoo, Dandoo, Dan-Doodle-Dan, Dan-you, Dindo-Dan, Gentle Virginia, 
Jenny Flow Gentle Rosemary, Old Man Come in From His Plow, Robin He's Gone to the 
Woods, Sweet Robin, The Old Man Who Lived in the West, The Old Sheepskin, The Scolding 
Wife, The Wee Cooper o' Fife, The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin. 

Story Types: A: A man marries a girl who is too proud or too shrewish to 
wort. When he returns from the fields at evening, she will not give him his 
supper. To reform her, he lolls a sheep, cuts a rod, and beats her after 
wrapping her in the sheepskin, a device which frees him of responsibility. 
When she threatens to tell her family, he reminds her that he was only tann- 
ing the hide. She reforms completely. 

Examples: Barry (A); Child (F); Davis (A); 
Flanders, Vt F-S Bids, 222. 

B: Certain West Virginia versions mention the old man's running away 
in the end. The Cox, F-S South, C version has four stanzas of nonsense 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study 147 

inserted about the old man's running to his father and saying his wife ias 
lice. All omit the bringing home of the bride. 

Examples: Cox, F-S South (A, B, C). 

C: The "wether's skin" has been forgotten in some texts, and a man merely 
beats his wife and reforms her. 

Examples: Cox, F-S South (E). 

Discussion: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 325 states that "Child F may be a 
possible intermediary between the earlier English texts and the later 
American". Whether this belief is true or not, the Child version does seem to 
me to tell the complete American story, and I have therefore used it as a 
model for Story Type A. As none of the British Child texts include the man's 
coming home from his plowing and asking for supper, some of the American 
texts omit this feature also. On the other hand, other American texts that I 
have grouped in Type A as well, omit the bringing home of the new bride 
who will not work and begin the story with the husband's return from the 
fields. Still other American texts can be found which include both opening 
scenes. See the examples listed under Type A. Types B and C are, of course, 
degenerations of this material, one through expansion, the other through 
loss. 

Like the story, the refrains of this ballad are varied and change place and 
character frequently. Belden, Mo F-S, 92, notes that two general divisions 
may be made with respect to these refrains: the "dandoo-clish ma dingo" 
types of the South and Midwest, and the "rosemary-thyme" types of the 
South and Northeast which probably have been borrowed from The Elfin 
Knight (Child 2). The "rosemary-thyme" lines may derive from the old plant 
burden, "juniper, gentian, and rosemary", which can be found rationalized 
to proper names in Child F and Barry, op. cit., A and B and which has 
created a new title for the song. See Cox, F-S South, 162. 

The ballad and its developments are discussed in some detail by William 
H. Jansen in HFLQ, IV, #3, 41. He divides the American tradition much 
in the fashion of Belden, and notes that there is no reform of the wife in the 
Dandoo texts. 

Child, V, 104 states that the ballad is, in all likelihood, derived from the 
traditional tale, The Wife Lapped in MorreVs Skin, which he summarizes. 
The story may have blended with another tale, however, before the present 
version developed. Lucy Broadwood, JFSS, II, 1215, in a note on plant 
burdens states that plants were regarded as protection against demons and 
when a demon vanished the burden often remained. In that case, and pro- 



14.8 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

viding the plant refrain has not been recently borrowed by the ballad, the 
wife may have originally had evil spirits, a feature which was later rationalized 
to her being too proud of kin or too shrewish by nature to work. 

The Brewster, Bids Sgs Ind, A version has almost lost the story, and, in- 
stead of the husband's rationalization of his deed at the end, has the cliche, 
"if you want any more, you can sing it yourself". The JAFL, LVI, 103 
fragment may not be from Child 277. 



278. THE FARMER'S CURST WIFE 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 325 / Beck, Sgs Mich Vjks, 107 / Belden, Mo F-S, 947 Brewster, 
Bids Sgs Ind, 155 / Brown Coll/ Bull Tenn FLS, VIII, #3, 73 / Chappell, F-S Rnke Alb, 42 / 
Cox, F-S South, 164.1 Crabtree, Overton Cnty, 98 / Creighton, Sgs Bids N Sc, 18 / Cutting, 
Adirondack Cnty, 71 / Davis, Trd Bid Va, 505 / Downes and Siegmeister, Treasry Am Sg, 
228 / Duncan, No Hamilton Cnty, 108 / Flanders, Vt F-S Bids, 226 / Gardner and Chickering, 
Bids Sgs So Mich, 373 / Garrison, Searcy Cnty, 13 / Haun, Cocke Cnty, 69 / Henry, F-S So 
Hghlds, 125 / Hudson, F-S Miss, 124 / Hummel, Oz F-S / JAFL, XIX, 2985 XXIV, 3485 
XXVII, 68; XXX, 329; XLVIII, 299 / Kolb, Treasry F-S, 8 / Linscott, F-S Old NE, 188 / 
Lomax, Cowboy Sgs Frntr Bids, 110 / Lomax and Lomax, Our Sgng Cntry, 152 / Louisville 
Courier-Journal, 114 '177 MacKenzie, Bids Sea Sgs N Sc, 647 Mason, Cannon Cnty, 75 / 
Morris, F-S Fla, 472 / Musick, F-L Kirksmlle, 11 A / Niles, Anglo-Am Stdy Bk, 31 / Niles, 
BldsLvSgs TgcLgds, z/ PTFLS,X, 1 64 /Randolph, Os F-S, I, 1 89 / Randolph, Oz Mt Flk, 
227 / SharpC, EngF-S So*Aplchns, #34/ SharpK, EngF-S So Aplchns, I, 275 / Siegmeister, 
Sgs Early Am, 44 / Smith and Rufty, Am Anth Old Wrld Bids, 53 / SFLQ, II, 77; IV, 157 / 
Va FLS Bull, #s 4 6, 8 10. Korson, Pa Sgs Lgds, 39. 

Local Titles: A Woman and the Devil, Brave Old Anthony Marela, Hi Lum Day, Jack, 
Jack's Wife, Kellybumbraes, Ten Little Devils, The Devil and the Fanner's Wife, The 
Devil Came to the Farmer's One Day, The Devil's Song, The Farmer's Curst Wife, The Old 
Devil Come to my Plow, The Old Jokey Song, The Old Man under the Hill, The Old Woman 
and the Devil. The (Old) Scolding Wife. 

Story Types: A: The Devil comes to take the farmer's shrewish wife, much 
to the farmer's delight. The woman is no more controllable in Hell than she 
was on earth. She kicks the imps about and is generally unmanageable. For 
the sake of peace and his own safety, the Devil is forced to take her back to 
the farmer. Upon her return, she sometimes asks for the food she was cook- 
ing in the pot when she left. Once and awhile she hits her husband, too. 
There is usually a comic, philosophic last stanza. 

Examples: Belden (A), Davis (A), SharpK (A). 

B: The story is like that of Type A. However, this feature is added: the 
farmer, having no oxen to plow his farm, lores the Devil, who abducts the 
wife as payment. Examples: Barry (C). 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study 14.9 

C: The Devil takes so many things from the farmer in accordance with 
a pact between them that soon the poor man has only his hogs left to plow 
with. The Devil then abducts the wife, and the usual story ensues. 
Examples: Gardner and Chickering (E). 

D : The usual story is told. In the end, however, the farmer welcomes his 
wife back and congratulates her for killing the imps and ruling Hell. 

Examples : Barry (D). 

E : The usual story is told, but, as in some of the Type A texts, the woman 
asks for the food in the pot on her return, only to find that is has all been 
eaten up. She also brags to her husband of her accomplishments in Hades. 

Examples: Cox. 

F: The usual story is told. As in Types A and E the woman asks for the 
food in the pot on her return. She follows this query by beating her husband, 
who is sick in bed, on the head with a pipe. 

Examples: Randolph, OzF-S (B); SharpK (B). 

Discussion: This ballad and a related song, The Devil in Search of a Wife, 
were London broadsides of the nineteenth century. Child prints only two 
versions of the traditional song, of which the A text is most like the majority 
of the American ballads. In this country, however, a mock aphoristic closing 
stanza on shrewish women is almost universally found, and the Child B 
ending, in which the returning wife asks for the food (mush, chicken, bread, 
etc.) she was cooking when abducted is not at all uncommon. See Types E 
andF. 

Barry, Brit Bids Me y 332, pieces together his conception of the original 
story. The farmer has made a pact with the Devil for aid, as he has no oxen 
to plow his fields. Satan returns for the soul of one member of the family as 
payment. As in Child A, the farmer is relieved that his eldest son is not 
desired. This explanation would account for Type B stories and is lent 
support by the Maine, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia versions that find the 
farmer yoking the swine to his plow. (In Siegmeister, Sgs Early Am^ 44, 
from New York the farmer uses his wife as well as the swine.) See also the 
Gardner and Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mich, E text (Type C) which was 
recited as a story outline, the exact words of the song having been forgotten. 

Beck, Sgs Mich Ujks, 107 prints a text from the woodsmen that sub- 
stitutes a lumberjack for the farmer, and the Randolph, OzF-S 9 1, 189 version 
is long, with many added details. Nevertheless, the story matter of both 



I IJO British Traditional Ballad in North America 

these texts can be said to be Type A. Note that the American stories have 
a number of varied endings, all, expecting Type D, being in the same mood. 
There is something of the sentimental in Type D. 

The American refrains are whistles, as in Child A, and/or nonsense lines 
of the "sing fol-roll dolli", etc. sort. 

Belden, Mo F-S, 95 expresses the belief that the devils dancing on a wire, 
as they do in Missouri and Nova Scotia, may hark back to the mystery plays. 



279. THE JOLLY BEGGAR 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 333, 475 (trace) / Cox, Trd Bid W Va^ 50 / Davis, FS Va / 
Goose Hangs High Songster (deWitt, Philadelphia, 1866) / Randolph, Oz F-S, I, 194 / John 
Templeton, "Jolly Beggar" (Oliver Ditson, Boston, n. d.). 

Local Titles: The Beggar's Bride. 

Story Types: A: A man gives lodging to a beggar who then runs off with 
his daughter. When the parents find the girl gone, they swear they will 
never take in another beggar. Seven years later the beggar returns, and, upon 
being told why no more beggars are lodged, he reveals that he is bringing the 
daughter back, not only full of fine stories, but a gay lady as well. 

Examples: Barry. 

Discussion: Child 279 survives in America in a derivative form. The 
Jolly Beggar (see also The Beggar Laddie, Child 280) was published, revised, 
as The Gaberlunyie-Man in the 1724 Tea-Table Miscellany by Allan Ramsay. 
See Child V, 115, where the fact that both songs were traditionally ascribed 
to James the Fifth of Scotland is stated. Some texts of the derivative have 
been discovered in this country, but the song is not common over here. The 
California (Cox, Trd Bid W Va) and Missouri-Arkansas (Randolph, Oz F-S,) 
fragments have two stanzas that correspond to the Maine (Barry, Br it Bids 
Me] text, and Barry, JAFL, XXII, 79 notes a tune from New Hampshire. 
The Barry version reflects the American tendency to omit the lustier parts 
of a story. Compare also Child's Jolly Beggar in this respect, 

281. THE KREACH I THE CREEL 
Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 336. 
Local Titles: The Kreach i' the Creel. 

Story Types: None. 

Discussion: The story of the ballad in Child is that of a young maid who 
captivates a clerk. To win her from her parents' strict watch, the hopeful 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study IJI 

lover has his brother build him a ladder, enters the locked house in a basket 
let down the chimney, and gets in bed with the daughter. Investigation by 
the father and mother are thwarted by the girl's telling her father that she 
is praying with a large book in her arms and by the mother's falling in the 
basket and being pulled up and down the flue by the clerk's brother. 

Barry, Brit Bids Me^ Maine text is a fragment, and it tells only of the 
bump the wife gets in the basket. The stanza follows Child D in the use of 
the word "lum" instead of "chimney". Herbert Halpert is now in possession 
of a more complete text. 

283. THE CRAFTY FARMER 

Texts: The Crafty Farmer; Barry, Brit Bids Me, 477 (trace) / Cox, F-S South ^ 166. 
The Torkshire Bite: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 406 / Brown Coll / Combs, F-S Etats-Unis, 149 / 
Creighton, Sgs Bids N Sc, 29 / Flanders, Cntry Sgs Ft, 26 / Flanders, New On Mt Sgstr, 97 / 
Flanders, Vt F-S Blds : 234 / Gardner and Chickering, Bids Sgs So Micb, 382 / Greenleaf and 
Mansfield, Bids Sea Sgs Newfdld, 46 / Henry, F-S So Hgblds, 135 / JAFL, XXIII, 451 ; XXX, 
3675 XLV, 30 / Sandburg, Am Sgbag^ 118. 

The Maid of Rygate; Greenleaf and Manfield, Bids Sea Sgs Newfdld, 47. 
Local Titles: None given. 

Jack and the Highwayman, John Sold the Cow Well, Robber Song, Selling 
the Cow, The Crafty Ploughboy, The London Mason, The New Hampshire Bite, 
The Yorkshire Bite, The (Little) Yorkshire Boy. 
The Highway Robber. 

Story Types: A: The Crafty Farmer. A fanner is going to pay His rent 
when a gentleman thief overtakes him. As they ride along, the farmer, 
through conversation, reveals the large amount of money that he is carrying 
on him. He even reveals the hiding-place of the money in his saddle-bags, 
The thief then pulls a pistol. However, the fanner throws an old saddle-bag 
over a hedge and, when the robber goes after this decoy, rides off upon the 
culprit's horse. The desperate thief offers to split fifty-fifty with the farmer, 
if the latter will only come back. This proposition is ignored, and the farmer 
goes to the landlord, pays his rent, and finds a lot more money in the robber's 
portmanteau. On his way home, the farmer finds his own horse tied to a 
tree. At home, his wife runs about the house in glee when she hears the news. 

Examples: Cox. 

B: The Torkshire BiU: A boy is robbed after having sold a cow in town 
for a farmer. The thief had overheard the lad ask for advice as to where to 
hide the money and had watched a tavern barmaid sew the cash in his coat- 
lining. Instead of giving the thief the money, the boy spreads it on the grass. 
When the robber dismounts to pick it up, the lad rides off on the thief's 



152 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

liorse. He and the farmer split the loot stored in the robber's saddle-bags, 
keep the horse, and rejoice. In some texts, the farmer is so happy he gives 
the boy his daughter as a wife. 

Examples: Barry (A): Greenleaf and Mansfield, p. 46; Combs. 

C: Mail of Rygate: Here, a heroine, stripped naked and robbed by a 
bandit, rides off astraddle his horse. She is on her way home from market 
with gold for her father who has sold some land. As in the other songs, she 
finds a fortune among the thief's possessions. 

Examples: Greenleaf and Mansfield, p. 47. 

Discussion: The Crafty Farmer itself is rare indeed in America. Cox, F-S 
South, prints a West Virginia text that is almost identical to Child A, 
although there are eight additional lines in the American text that do not 
affect the story and a rearrangement of stanzas in the final stages of the 
song. Barry, Brit Bids Me, 477 notes that the same text was recognized by a 
Maine sea-captain as a song his sailors used to sing. 

The usual ballads of a duped thief belong, in America, to the Torkskir? 
Bite series. See Logan's Pedlar's Pack, 131. This song (1769) is older in print 
than The Crafty Farmer (1796), and both are members of a large group of 
similar tales. See Child, V, 129. See also Greenleaf and Mansfield, Bids Sea 
Sgs Newfdld, 47 where an American version of The Maid of Rygate (Logan's 
Pedlar's Pack, 133) is printed under the title The Highway Robber. 

For a detailed discussion of The Yorkshire Bite and for an anecdote that 
runs parallel to The Crafty Farmer, see JAFL, XXIII, 45 iff. A bite is a 
shrewd trick played on a person in this case like those tricks for which the 
people of Yorkshire are famous. There are also Kennebec, South Carolina, 
and New Hampshire bites mentioned in this country. See NTFLQ, IV, 179 
and Flanders, New Gn Mt Sgstr, 97. The American refrains are nonsense 
lines. 

285. THE GEORGE ALOE AND THE SWEEPSTAKE 

Texts: George Aloe: JAFL, XVIII, 134 / Shay, Deep Sea Chanties, 58. 

Coast of Barbary Examples : American Songster (Cozzens, N.Y.) / Barry, Brit Bids Me, 4.13 / 
Chappell, F-S Rnke Alb, 51 / Colcord, Roll and Go, 78 / Colcord, Sgs Am Sailormen, 153 / 
Flanders, Vt F-S Bids, 229 / Forget-me-not Songster (Turner and Fisher, Philadelphia and 
N.Y., c. 1840) / Lomax and Lomax, Our Sgng Cntry, 212 / Morris, F-S Flo,, 91 / Nesser, Aw 
Naval Sgs Bids, 303 / Shay, Am Sea Sgs Chanties, 91 / Shay, Deep Sea Chanties, 98 / Shay,, 
My Ptotts Frnds Drkn Cmpns, 140 / Smith and Rufty, Am Anth Old Wrld Bids, $6. 

Local Titles: The George Aloe and the Sweepstake. 



A Critical, Bibliographical Study 153 

Story Types: A: Two merchant ships, the Aloe and the Sweepstake ', are 
sailing by Barbary. The Aloe anchors, but the Sweepstake goes on and is 
attacked and boarded by a French man o' war. When those aboard the Aloe 
hear this, they sail out to meet the Frenchmen. They sight the enemy. 

Examples: Shay. 

B : A man o 5 war (originally she was a merchant ship) out cruising sights 
a frigate and, on hailing her, learns that she is a privateer (originally she 
was a French man o' war). A battle ensues, and the man o' war shoots the 
pirate's mast away. The robber calls for mercy, but none is shown. 
Examples: JAFL, XVIII, 134. 

Discussion: The American Types A and B, if placed together, give the 
complete story of the ballad. However, the Type B text has been changed 
to the extent that the merchantman and French man o* war have become a 
man o' war and a privateer respectively. As this version was collected from 
a United States Navy sailor and is of Civil War vintage, the change is under- 
standable. See Child, V, 133 for his outline of the narrative and a discussion 
of a possible second part to the English ballad. 

There are many American versions of a derivative of Child 285 that go 
under a variation of a Coast of Barbary title. These tell of a sea-fight be- 
tween a privateer and a victorious man o' war (a feature that may account 
for the switch noted above in Type B) and trace back to a song based on the 
ballad and written for the British Navy by Charles Dibden (1745 1814). 
Little except the alternating refrain and the phrase "coast of Barbary" is 
retained of the Child song, however. Versions are found along the sea-coast. 
See Colcord's discoveries from New Bedford and Lomax's text from West 
Bermuda. 



286. THE SWEET TRINITY (THE GOLDEN VANITY) 

Texts: Anderson, Coll Bids Sgs, 53 / Barry, Brit Bids Me, 339 / Belden, Mo F-S, 97 / Berea 
Quarterly, XVIII, 18 / Bowles, Am F-S / Brewster, Bids Sgs Ind, r 58 / Brown Coll / BFSSNE, 
V, 10 / Cambiaire, Ea Tenn Wstn Va Mt Bids, 93 / Calmer, Am Sings, 185 / Chappell, F-S' 
Rnke Alb, 43 / Colcord, Roll and Go, 79 / Colcord, Sgs Am Sailormen, 154 / Coleman and 
Bregman, Sgs Am Flk, 16 / Cox, F-S South, 169 / Cox, Trd Bid W Va, 52 / Cox, W. Va. 
School Journal and Educator, XLV, 58 / Creighton, Sgs Bids N Sc, 20 / Davis^ Trd Bid Va, 
516 / Duncan, No Hamilton Cnty, in / Flanders, Cntry Sgs Vt, 40 / Flanders^F* F-S Bids, 
230 / Focus^ IV, *5$ / Gardner and Chickering, Bids Sea Sgs So Mich, 214 / Greenleaf and 
Mansfield, Bids Sea Sgs Newfdld, 43 / Harper's Mgz (May, 1 915), 912 / Henry, F-S So Hgblds, 
127 / Hudson, F-S Miss, 125 / Hudson, Spec Miss F-L, #22 / Hummel, Os F-S / JAFL, 
XVIII, 125; XXIII, 381, 4295 XXX> 33M XLV, 25; XLVIII, 3125 LII, n / Lomax and 



154 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

Lomax, Our Sgng Cntry, 210 / Macintosh, So III F-S, 21 / McDonald, Selctd F-S Mo, 17 / 
McGill, F-S Ky Mts, 97 / Minish Mss / Morris, F-S Fla, 476 / Musical Quarterly, III, 374 / 
Niles, Anglo Am Bid Sidy Bk, 28 / Niles, Bids Lv Sgs Tgc Lgds, 18 / Ozark Life, VI, # i / 
Perry, Carter Cnty, 197 / Pound, Am Bids Sgs, 24 / Raine, Land Sddle Bags, 121 / Randolph, 
Oz F-Sj I, 195 / Randolph, The Ozarks, 177 / Richardson, Am Mt Sgs, 28 / Elizabeth M. 
Roberts, The Great Meadow, N.Y., 1930, 34 / Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mts, 184 / SharpC, 
Eng F-S So Aplcbns, #35 / SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplcbns, I, 282 / Shearin and Combs, Ky 
Syllabus, 9 / Shoemaker, Mt Mnstly, 132, 299 / Shoemaker, No Pa Mnstly, 126 / Singer's 
Journd, II, 686 / Smith and Rufty, Am Anth Old Wrld Bids, 59 / SFLQ, II, 79 / Va FLS 
Bidl, ^s 3, 4, 8 10 / Wyman and Brockway, Lnsme Tunes, 72. 

Local Titles: A Ship Set Sail for North America, Gold China Tree, Golden Vallady, Low 
Down Lonesome Low, Merry (Mary) Golden Tree, Sailing in the Lowlands Low, Sinking in 
the Lowlands Low, The Cruise in the Lowlands Low, The French Galilee, The Gold China 
Tree, The Golden Merrilee, The Golden Vanity, The Golden Willow Tree, The Green Willow 
Tree, The Little Cabin Boy, The Little Ship, The Lonesome Low, The Lonesome Sea, The 
Lowlands, The Lowland Sea, The Lowlands Low, The Pirate Ship, The Turkey-rogherlee and 
the Yellow Golden Tree, The Turkey Shivaree, The Weep-willow Tree. 

Story Types: A: A boat is sailing in the lowlands when attacked by a 
feared pirate. A cabin boy volunteers to sink the robbers. As a reward, he is 
to get money and the hand of the captain's daughter. He accomplishes his 
task by swimming to the other ship and cutting some gashes in her. The 
pirate goes down. When the boy has swum back to his ship, the captain 
refuses to keep his word. Out of respect for his mates or the girl, the boy 
reluctantly does not sink the captain's boat. He either dies of exhaustion in 
the water or in a hammock on deck after his mates hoist him aboard. 
Examples: Barry (A), Davis (A), SharpK (A). 

B : The story is the same as that of Type A. However, the cabin boy is 
rescued by his shipmates. He scorns the gold and fee, but accepts the girl's 
hand in marriage. Examples: JAFL> XVIII, 125. 

C: The story is identical to that of Type A. However, the ghost of the boy 
returns to haunt the captain or the Lowlands. 

Examples: Belden (A), Coleman and Bregman. 

D: The usual story is told. But, after the boy drowns, the crew throws the 
captain overboard and drowns him. 

Examples: Shoemaker, Mt Mnstly, p. 132. 

E : The usual story is told. However, the boy swears that he will sink the 
captain, too. Examples : Shoemaker, Mt Mnstly, p. 299. 



A Critical, Bibliographical Study 155 

Discussion: The American versions of this song should not be confused 
with the later Lowlands Low group (Toung Edmund) which traces back to 
the English Toung Edwin in the Lowlands Low series. 

The Sweet Trinity in this country does not really follow any of the Child 
versions textually, although there is on the whole a closer resemblance to 
Child B and C than to Child A. In America, Sir Walter Raleigh is no longer 
connected with the song, the ships have "Golden Vanity" and "Turkish 
(also Russian, Irish, French, etc.) Revelee" names which may vary with 
historical circumstances, and a more positive ending. 

The New World story types differ with respect to the conclusion only, 
Type A resembles Child A (though in a more definite form) and/or Child C, 
but cannot be said to parallel either. The gallant refusal by the cabin boy to 
follow his inclinations to sink the captain's ship is only in America. Type B 
seems definitely derived from Child B, but also is more definite, while Types 
C, D, and E reflect the desire for justice to be done, and in the case of Type E 
for revenge as well. Colcord, Roll and Go, 79 and JAFL, XVIII, 125 reflect 
the American tendency to sentimentalize. 

The Colcord, SgsAmSailormen, 154 text contains a great deal of sea lingo, 
while the Henry, F-S So Hgblds, 130, B version finds the Golden Willow 
Tree sunk by a lad from the Turkish Revelee. Note also BFSSNE, V, n in 
the text printed there the boy "upsets the tea-kettle and drowns all the 
mice". 

Barry, Brit Bids Me, 347 points out that the similarity between the 
southern and New England versions of this ballad indicates that the height 
of the song's popularity in England was at the time of the big American 
emigration. 

For a parody of the song, see Sandburg, Am Sgbag, 343. For other college 
versions, note The American College Songster (Ann Arbor, Mich., 1876), 101; 
Waite's Carmina Collegensia (Boston, cop. 1868), 171; and White's Student 
Life in Song (Boston, cop. 1879), 58. 



287. CAPTAIN WARD AND THE RAINBOW 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 347 / Broadsides: Coverly, Bostoa Public Library; Harvard 
University Library 25242.5.5, 25276.4381 / Chappell, F-S Rnke Alb, 45 / Flanders, Vt F-S 
Elds, 242 / Forecastle Songster (Nafis and Cornish, N.Y., 1849) / Forget-me-not Songster (Locke, 
Boston, c. 1842) / Forget-me-not Songster (Nafis and Cornish, N.Y.), 41 / Forget-me-not Songster 
(Turner and Fisher, Philadelphia), 200 / Gardner and Chickering, Bids Sg$ So Mich, 216 / 
. Green Mountain Songster, 56 / JAFL, XVIII, 137; XXV, 177 / Pearl Songster (Huestis, N.Y., 
.1846), 136 / Shoemaker, Mt Mnstly, 300 / Thompson, Bdy Bts Brtchs, 33. 

Local Titles; Captain Ward, Captain Ward and the Rainbow, Captain Ward the Pirate* 



156 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

Story Types: A: The English king has a ship, the Rainbow, built and sent 
out to sea. She encounters the Scot, Captain Ward, who, upon being re- 
cognized as a pirate who had robbed the English and ordered to surrender,, 
fights her and routs her with the taunt that the king can rule the land, but 
Ward rules the sea. 

Examples: Barry (B), Gardner and dickering. Shoemaker. 

B : The Scotsman Ward writes the English King and requests that he be 
taken into the Royal Navy with his ship for 10,000 of gold. The King (or 
Queen) refuses him as being untrustworthy. Ward sets off again, undismayed, 
and robs, among others, an English merchantman. When the news reaches 
the King, he has the Rainbow built. This boat attacks Ward, captures him, 
and takes him back to England. Ward speaks right up to the King and says 
that he hates France and Spain and has robbed but three English ships. 
Nevertheless, he is hung. 

Examples: Barry (C). 

C: The story is similar to that of Type B. However, after losing the fight, 
the Rainbow returns to the King and tells him Ward will never be taken, and 
the monarch bewails the three great men he has recently lost. They would 
have captured Ward had they been alive. 

Examples: Barry (D), Flanders (B). 

Discussion: Child, V, 163 dates the events of this ballad as having occurred 
between 1604 and 1609 and cites John Ward of Kent as the hero. The deaths 
of Essex, Clifford, and Mount] oy in 1601, 1605 and 1606 respectively tend 
to back up these statements. They are the three heroes who would have 
taken Ward had they been alive. Barry, Brit Bids Me, 358 63, in a difficult, 
but informative discussion, investigates the British and American versions 
of the story in detail. 

From his arguments, it seems very possible that the Type B ballads give 
the end of the story as it occurred in actuality and that, although Ward 
escaped once, he was later captured by other men in James* service and 
hung. The Type A and C texts do not reveal these subsequent events and 
only tell of the escape Type A, the most common of the three in America, 
being a shorter version of the Type C (Child) story. If this reasoning is true, 
then the name the Rainbow has been confused and appears both on James' 
defeated ship (A, C) and on his victorious ship (B). However, it is equally 
possible that a tragic ending and a happy ending exist on the same ballad 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study 157 

because of folk whim, contact with Sir Andrew Barton (see my discussion 
under Child 167, as well as Barry, op. cit., 253ff.) ? or another reason. 

The savage opening stanza of the Chappell, F-S Rnke Alb, 45 text is 
worth note. In it, the King calls Ward a "wanton, lying, stinking thief". 

289. THE MERMAID 

Texts; Barry, Brit Bids Me, 363 / Belden, Mo F-S, 101 / Botkin, Am Play-Party Sg, 56 / 
Botkin, Treasry NE F-L, 872 / Brown Coll / Chappell, F-S Rnke Alb, 47 / Cox, F-S South, 
1 92 / Davis, Tr d Bid Va, 521 / DeMarsan Broadside List 14, 4 56 / Deming Broadside (Boston, 
c. 1838) / Focus, III, 447; IV, 97 / Forget-me-not Songster (Locke, Boston, c. 1842) I Forget-me- 
not Songster (Nafis and Cornish, N.Y.), 79 / Forget-me-not Songster (Sadlier, N.Y.), 46 / Fore- 
castle Songster (Nafis and Cornish, N.Y., 1849), 112 / Haun, Cocke Cnty, 112 / Heart Songs, 
360 / Henry, F-S So Hgblds, 133 / Hudson, F-S Miss, 127 / Hudson, Spec Miss F-L, #23 / 
JAFL, XVIII, 136; XXV, 176; XXVI, 175 / Lomax and Lomax, Our Sgng Cntry, 151 / 
Luce's Naval Songs, 1 902, 1 1 8 / MacKenzie, Bids Sea Sgs N Sc, 65 / McGill, F-S Ky Mts, 46 / 
Morris, F-S Fla, 479 / Musick, F-L Kirksville, 12 / NTFLQ, IV, 179 / Pearl Songster (Huestis, 
N.Y., 1846), 155 / Pound, Am Bids Sgs, 26 / Pound, Nebr Syllabus, 10 / PTFLS, X, 162 / 
Randolph, OzF-S, I, 202 / Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mts, 189 / SharpK, EngF-S So Aplcbns, 
I, 291 / Shoemaker, No Pa Mnstly (1919), 157 / Singer's Journal, I, 301 / Spaeth, Read 'em 
and Weep, 81 / Stout, F-L la, 14 / Thompson, Bdy Bts Brtcbs, 216 / Uncle Sam's Naval and 
Patriotic Songster (Cozzens, N. Y.), 40 / Pa FLS Bull #s 2 5, 8 10 / Alfred Williams, Street 
Bids and Sgs (pre- 1895). 

Local Titles: As I Sailed Out One Friday Night, Our Gallant Ship, The Mermaid, The 
Royal George, The Shipwrecked Sailors, The Sinking Ship, The Stormy Winds, The Stormy 
Winds How They Blow (Do Blow), The Three Sailor Boys, The Wreck. 

Story Types: A: A ship sets sail on a Friday, a day of ill-omen. It sights a 
mermaid at sea, a fact which bodes ill-weather. The men on board all resign 
themselves that the ship will go down. It does. 

Examples: Barry (A), Belden, Davis (A). 

B : The story Is the same as that of Type A. However, the captain "plumbs" 
the sea fore and aft and realizes the boat will sink and that all the men on 
board will be in Heaven or Hell "this night". The other crew members do 
not appear. Examples: Lomax and Lomax. 

Discussion: The Type A American texts of this song follow the Child B-D 
series rather closely, although the first stanza of the JAFL, XXVI, 175 
fragmentary song allies it with Child A. A man lies in bed thinking of the 
t hard life of the sailors. This version does not mention the mermaid, however, 
although she may have appeared in one of the forgotten stanzas. The Type B 
version has no parallel in Child and probably has resulted from gradual 
degeneration through transmission, or from print. 



1 58 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

The ballad has been included in many published works both in Britain 
(see Cox, F-S South, 172) and in America. Cox, op. cit. 9 and MacKenzie, 
Bids Sea Sgs N Sc, 65 give lists of college songbook texts. Some references 
of this sort are The American College Songster (Ann Arbor, 1876), 56; Noble's 
Songs of Harvard (cop. 1913), 82; W. H. Hill's Student's Songs, 27; and 
Wake's Student Life in Song (Boston, cop. 1879), 47. It has been parodied 
frequently. See Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mts, 190; The Slam-Bang Songster 
(cop. 1870), 8; and The We Won't Go Home Until Morning Songster (cop. 
1869), 8. For its use as a children's game see Gomme, Traditional Games, !!> 
143^ 422; For its use as a play-party game see Botkin, Am Play-Party Sg y 
56. For other published texts, which have had a large influence on the form 
of this song, see the broadside and songster references included in the biblio- 
graphy above. 

American texts usually have a "stormy winds" chorus which will vary in 
position and use in the different versions and variants. 

293. JOHN OF HAZELGREEN 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 369 / BFSSNE, III, 9 / Davis, Trd Bid Va, 529 / MLN, XLVI, 
304 / Morris, F-S Fla, 482 / Scarborough, Sgctchr So Mts, 225 / SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplcbns, I, 
294 / Smith and Rufty, Am Anib Old Wrld JBlds, 62 / SFLQ, XIII, 173 / Va FLS Bull, 4s 
3-7, 10. 

Local Titles: John (Jack, Jock) o' Hazelgreen, John of (over) Hazelgreen, Willie of Hazel 
Green. 

Story Types: A: A walker discovers a girl crying, and he offers her his 
eldest son in marriage. However, she refuses, saying that she loves John of 
Hazelgreen, whom she describes glowingly. She then rides to town and is 
met by John, who kisses her and promises fidelity. 
Examples : Davis (A), SharpK. 

B : The story is parallel to that of Type A, except that instead of going to 
town the girl rides home with the walker after she has refused the offer of 
his son's hand. At the house she is met by her Willie, who conveniently turns 
out to be the son. Examples: SFSSNE, III, 9. 

Discussion: The full story of the ballad as given by Child, V, 160 is as 
follows: 

A gentleman overhears a damsel making moan for Sir John of Hazelgreen. After 
some compliment on his part, and some slight information on hers, he tells her that 
Hazelgreen is married; then there is nothing for her to do, she says, but to hold her 
peace and die for him. The gentleman proposes that she shall let Hazelgreen go, marry 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study 159 

his eldest son, and be made a gay lady 5 she is too mean a maid for that, and, anyway, 
had rather die for the object of her affection. Still she allows the gentleman to take her 
up behind him on his horse and to buy clothes for her at Biggar, though all the time 
dropping tears for Hazelgreen. After shopping they mount again, and at last they 
come to the gentleman's place, when the son runs out to welcome his father. The son 
is young Hazelgreen, who takes the maid in his arms and kisses off the stiD-f ailing 
tears. The father declares that the two shall be married the next day, and the young 
man shall have the family lands. 

The Type B version cited here, although obviously a fragment of the same 
story, does not follow any Child version. The Type A stories are not close 
to Child's version either and frequently in America appear little more than 
a maid's lament and a lover's reunion. 

The Davis, Trd Bid Fa, 536, J, version has been the subject of some 
scholarship because of the influence that Scott's Jock of Hazeldean has had 
upon it. For a discussion of the role played by Scott in the composition of the 
English text in the light of this Virginia version, see Maurice Kelley's 
article, MLN, XLVI, 304. Check also Davis, op. cit. 9 529 and Morris, F-S 
Fla, 482. See BFSSNE, III, 9 where a New Brunswick song that corrupts 
Scott's poem with lines from the traditional ballad is printed. Scott's poem 
and its history are fully treated here. There is no clear story to be seen in this 
fragmentary Canadian version, however. 



295. THE BROWN GIRL 

Note: Reed Smith (SFLQ, I, #2, 9 1 1) lists The Brown Girl in its traditional form among 
the survivals of Child ballads in America. I have not, however, been able to locate a published 
text. 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 418 / Belden, Mo F-S, in / Brewster, Bids Sgs Ind, 164 / 
Broadsides: Claude L. Fraser Coll., Yale University; Brown University Library / Brown 
Coll / Cambiaire, Ea Tenn Wstn 7 a Mt Bids, 1 19 / Cox, F-S South, 366 / Davis, Trd Bid Fa, 
537 / Flanders, Vt F-S Bids, 244 / Gardner and Chickering, Bids Sgs So Mich, 150 / Green 
Mountain Songster, 23 / Haun, Cocke Cnty, 83 / Henry, F-S So Hghlds, 134 / Hudson, F-S 
Miss, 128 / Hudson, F-T Miss, 8 / Hudson, Spec Miss F-L, #25 / JAFL, XXVII, 73; 
XXXII, 502; XXXIX, 1 10 ; XLV, 53; LII, 12 / Leach-Beck Mss / Lomax and Lomax, Our 
Sgng Cntry, 160 / Morris, F-S Fla, 483 / Owens, Studies Tex F-S, 18 / Powell, 5 Va F-S, g / 
Randolph, Oz F-S, I, 205 / Scarborough, Sgctcbr So Mts, 97 / SharpC, Eng F-S So Aplcbns, 
#36 / SharpK, EngF-S So Aplcbns, I, 295 / Smith and Rufty, Am Antb Old WrU Bids, 67 / 



Local Titles: A Brave Irish Lady, A Irish (Young) Lady, Doctor, Fair (Pretty) Sally, Love 
Billie, Sally and Her True Love Billie, Pretty Sally of London, Rose of Ardeen, Sally, Sallie, 
(Pretty) Sally and Billy, Sally Sailsworth, The Bold Sailor, The Brown Girl, The Fair Damsel 
(Rich Lady) from London, The Rich (Irish) Lady, The Royal Fair Damsel, The Sailor from 
Dover, There Was a Young Lady. 



l6o British Traditional Ballad in North America 

Story Types: A: A young girl, once attached to a man, tells him she cannot 
love him as she has fallen for another. He becomes proud. Later, when she 
falls deathly ill, she sends for the scorned one and requests that he restore 
her faith and love. He arrives and mocks her situation, reminds her how 
she scorned him, and says he will dance with glee on her grave. Often, she 
gives him a ring to wear while dancing on her grave, a gift which he scorns. 
Examples: Brewster, Davis (A), SharpK (A). 

B: See The Death of Queen Jane (Child 170): Type D. 

Examples: Davis, p. 420; SharpK, p. 303, 

C: The story is like that of Type A, except that the man repents his 
cruelty and says he will soon die and wed the girl in death. 
Examples: SharpK (G). 

D: The same story is told as was told in Type A, but the ending is happy. 
The lover repents and tells the girl to "cheer up". He then marries her. 
Examples: Barry (A, E), Gardner and Chickering, Flanders. 

E : The story is the same as that of Type A, but it is the man who gets ill 
and the girl (like Barbara Allen) who goes to see him, scorns him a second 
time, and is given the rings to wear when she dances on his grave. 
Examples: JAFL, LII, 12. 

F: The story is very like that of Type A. However, the man spurns the 
girl at the start by telling her that he will only marry her if forced. She then 
becomes proud, gets ill, and sends for him. He spurns her again in the usual 
fashion. Examples: Leach-Beck Mss. 

G: A degeneration exists in which a sea-captain, Pretty Polly, and Miss 
Betsy are involved in a confusion in which the "are you the doctor" stanzas 
are the only intelligible part. 

Examples: JAFL, XLV, 54. 

Discussion: The American forms of this ballad can all (excepting Smith's 
find, if that find is genuine) be traced back to English derivatives of the 
Child song that went under titles such as Sally and Billy and The Bold 
Soldier. In this country, the girl is no longer brown, the sexes have been re- 
versed so that the lover mocks and scorns the dying girl, and the "are you 
the doctor" stanzas have become a central feature of the ballad. See Belden, 



A Critical^ Bibliographical Study l6 1 

Mo F-S, in for a detailed discussion of the American and British features 
of the song. 

There has been a certain amount of doubt and hesitation among the 
collector-editors in deciding whether or not to include the American Brown 
Girl as part of the Child 295 tradition or not. Barry and Gardner and Cticker- 
ing publish their finds as secondary versions of the traditional song, while 
Randolph, Brewster, Sharp-Karpeles, and Davis include theirs as American 
variants. See Hudson, F-S Miss, 128; the Kirklands, SFLQ, III, 79; and 
Powell, 5 Va F-S, 78 for discussions of the problem. 

The story of The Brown Girl, as given by Child, V, 166, is as follows : 

A young man who has been attached to a girl sends her word by letter that he can- 
not fancy her because she is so brown (he has left her for another). She sends a dis- 
dainful reply. He writes again that he is dangerously ill (he is lovesick), and begs her 
to come to him quickly and give him hack his faith. She takes her time in going, and 
when she comes to the sick man's bedside, cannot stand for laughing. She has, how- 
ever, brought a white wand with her, which she strokes on his breast, in sign that she 
gives him back the faith which he had given her. But as to forgiving and forgetting, 
that she will never do ; she will dance upon his grave. 

The American story types are, of course, quite dissimilar to this narrative. 
Type A is the normal American tale. The Type B variation is due to the 
corruption of Child 170, The Death of Queen Jane (See Type D under 170). 
Types C and D reflect different degrees of sentimentality and, particularly 
in the latter case, weaken the story considerably. Type E is interesting in 
that the sexes reverse back to the British form, although the girl remains the 
scorner at the start. Part of this story was narrated, and the change may be 
due in some degree to faulty memory. Type F echoes the British Brown Girl 
also in that the man spurns the girl before she becomes haughty. However, 
this text is clearly the derivative song, and the variation is probably con- 
nected to the fact that some of the verses were unknown to the singer. Type 
G is a most unbelievably confused and garbled text. 

The SharpK, Eng F-S So Aplchns, F text should be noted in that it re- 
veals the "doctor" stanzas taken so literally that the lover has become a 
physician. See also Powell, 5 Va F-S. 

299. THE TROOPER AND THE MAID 

Texts: Barry, Brit Bids Me, 371 / Brewster, Bids Sgs Ind, 166 / Brown Coll / BFSSNE, 
VIII, 1 1 / Davis, Trd Bid Va, 544 / Focus, V, 280 / Randolph, Oz F-S, I, 213 / Randolph, Oz 
MtFlk, 209 / Sewanee Review (July 1911), 326 / SharpC, EngF-S So Aplcbns # 37 / SharpK, 
Eng F-S So Aplcbns, 305 / Va FLS Bull #s 4, 7, 8. 

Local Titles: A Soldier Rode from the East, The Bugle Boy, The Trooper, The Trooper and 
the Maid. 



1 62 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

Story Types: A: A trooper comes to his mistress' house to spend the night 
with her. After feeding the horse and feasting, they go to bed and are 
awakened by a trumpet in the morning. The trooper has to leave; the girl 
fearing she has been ruined follows him. He begs her to turn back. She asks 
him repeatedly when they are to meet and marry. He replies with a typical 
ballad "never, never" motif, such as that used in Edward, The Two Brothers, 
etc. Examples: Davis (A, B), SharpK (A, C). 

B : The story is much like that of Type A. However, the trooper says he 
will return to the girl, though marriage is not mentioned. 

Examples: Barry. 

C: The story is similar to that of Type A, but the trooper says he will 
marry the girl in the future. 

Examples: Randolph, OzF-S, I. 

D: A version, badly corrupted by Young Hunting, in which the lady 
stabs the trooper as he bends from his horse after telling her he will never 
marry her, exists in Indiana. In this text, the girl also persuades the man to 
spend the night with her after he has told her he is on his way to see his 
real love. Examples : Brewster. 

Discussion: The American Type A stories follow Child's summary as 
given in V, 172. Type B, however, as does the Greig, Last Leaves Trd Bid, B, 
version (see his Note 107 on p. 278), begins to show a modification of the 
realistic ending. Here the mention of the marriage is left out, but an inten- 
tion to return is expressed. The Barry, Brit Bids Me, B text, it should be 
noted, is similar to Greig A (p. 246) expect for this one final stanza where 
the idea of the return is given: "But, bonnie lassie, I'll lie near ee yet". This 
final stanza may be a variation from the second stanza (which is repeated 
in Greig A) with influence from the Greig B ending. Type C carries the ten- 
dency to its ultimate conclusion in an ending where the trooper replies that 
he'll marry the girl "when peace is made an 3 the soldiers are at home" in- 
stead of the usual "when cockle shells grow silver bells", etc. Whether this 
ending has been affected by the Pretty Peggy of Gibb Ms., #13, p. 53 or 
The Dragoon and Peggy of Maidment's Scotish Ballads and Songs (1859), 98 
which Child, V, 172 notes end happily is hard to say. Type D demonstrates 
the manner in which a new song can grow from two old ones. Brewster, 
Bids Sgs Ind, 166 points out that his text contains a half-stanza from the 
Manx Va shiaulteyr voish y twoiae (JFSS, VII, 216). 



AN INDEX TO BORROWING IN THE 
TRADITIONAL BALLADS OF AMERICA 



AN INDEX TO BORROWING IN THE 
TRADITIONAL BALLADS OF AMERICA 

(This material was published in JAFL, LXII, 15661) 
The following chart is an index to some of the corruptions that have 
occurred in the American Child ballads. Exchange of actual lines, but not 
of proper names, refrains, or cliches, is included. In certain cases, where the 
direction of the borrowing is doubtful, I have followed the opinions of Child 
and/or the editor of the work in which the particular text appears. In other 
cases I have been unable to identify specifically the song from or to which 
the material has come or gone. When the corrupting or corrupted song is 
a native American ballad or other British or American song a typical title 
has been used. 

The chart is so arranged that the titles of the corrupted and corrupting 
ballads are placed alphabetically (cross-indexed) in the second column. All 
flow of material is from left to right, and the reference, in every case re- 
ferring to the corrupted text, is printed in the final column. The name of the 
author is given, in addition to the first letter of the major words in the title 
of his book and the page number. For the complete titles of the books, as 
well as their dates and places of publication, one should consult the General 
Bibliography. 



Material Abbreviated Child Material enters Reference 

comes from title and number 

BAILIFFS DAUGHTER 
(105) Lady Isabel (4) Greenleaf, SSN, 3 

BARBARA ALLEN (84) Earl Brand (7) SharpK, EFSSA, 1, 17 
BARBARA ALLEN Fair Margaret (74) Davis, 75F, 236 

Gypsy Laddie (200) BESSY BELL (201) Cox, FSS, 134 

Vilikins & Dinah BONNIE ANNIE (24) 3FSSNE, XI, 9 

BONNIE BEE HOM (92) Lowlands Combs, fSEU, 173 

of Holland Gray, SM, 88 

SharpK, EFSSAfyoo 

BRAES OF YARROW Rare Willie (215) Barry, BBM, 292 

(214) Eddy, BSO, 69 
BRAES OF YARROW Untkled Lyric Barry, BBM, 291 

Amen BROWN GIRL 

(295) Death Q. Jane(i7o) Davis, T.BF, 419 

165 



i66 



British Traditional Ballad in North America 



Material 
comes from 



Abbreviated Child 
title and number 



Material eaters 



Reference 



CAPTAIN WARD (287) 



Sir A. Barton (167) Barry, BBM, 248 
Cox, FSS, 150 
Smith, SCB, 156 



CRUEL MOTHER (20) 
Maid & Palmer (21) CRUEL MOTHER 

Wife Usher's Well CRUEL MOTHER 
(79) 



Waly Waly 



Barry, BBM, 469 
Creighton, SBNS, 3 
MacKenzie, BSSNE,iz 
SharpK, EFSSA, I, 56 



DEATH Q. JANE (170) 
Amen Brown Girl DEATH Q. JANE 



Duke of Bedford Flanders, FFSB, 219 
Davis, TBF, 419 



Barbara Allen (84) EARL BRAND (7) 



SharpK, EFSSA, I, 17 



EDWARD (13) Lizie Wan (51) SharpK, EFSSA, I, 89 

EDWARD Noel Girl Randolph, 

OFS, II, 99 
EDWARD Twa Brothers (49) Vermont HSP, 102 



Barbara Allen (84) 
Lord Thomas (73) 



FAIR MARGARET (74) 
FAIR MARGARET 
FAIR MARGARET 
FAIR MARGARET 



LordThomas-A(73) Henry, BMFS, 16 
Lord Thorn as-B Haufrecht, WS, 10 
Davis, TBV, 236 
Brewster, BSI, 76 



There Was an Old 

Man 
Lived under the 

Hill 



FARMER'S C. WIFE 
(276) 



Cox, FSS, 164 



GREY COCK (248) 



Lady Isabel (4) Minish Mss. 



I'm 17 Come 

Sunday 



GYPSY LADDIE (200) 
GYPSY LADDIE 



Bessy Bell (201) 



Cox, FSS, 134 
JAFL, XLVIII, 385 
JAFL, LII, 79 



Lass Roch Royal 
(76) 



JAMES HARRIS (243) 
JAMES HARRIS 



Rocky Mountain 
Top 



Numerous Songs JAMES HARRIS 
(For a list see the 
discussion under 
Child 243 in this 
study.) 



SFLQ, II, 75 
Cox, FSSy 142 
Davis, TBF, 463 
Duncan, BFSNHC, 91 
SharpK, 

EFSSA, I, 249 
Smith, SCJB, 152 
Davis, TBF, 466 
Duncan, BFSNHC, 91 



An Index to Borrowing 



167 



Material 
comes from 


Abbreviated Child 
title and number 


Material enters Reference 


Willie o W. (too) 


JOHNIE SCOT (99) 


Barry, BBM, 217 



LADY ALICE (85) 



Lass Roch Royal Chappell, FSRA, 128 



LADY ISABEL (4) 
LADY ISABEL 



Bailiff's Daughter LADY ISABEL 

(105) 

Grey Cock (248) LADY ISABEL 
Young Hunting (68) LADY ISABEL 



Rocky Mountain SFLQ, II, 75 

Top 

Young Hunting (68)Belden, MFS, 35 
Davis, TBF, 183 
SharpK, 

EFSSA, I, 102 
Greenleaf, BSSN, 3 

Minish Mss. 
JAFL, XLIX, 214. 



Little Musgrave (81) LADY MAISRY (65) 



Barry, BBM, 448 



A song similar to LAMKIN (93) 
"Young Hunting" 



Chappell, FSRA, 76 



LASS ROCH ROYAL 

(76) 



James Harris (243) Cox, FSS, 142 

Davis, TBF, 463 
Duncan, BFSNHC, 91 
SharpK, EFSSA, 

1,249 
Smith, SCB y 152 





LASS ROCH ROYAL 


Lord Lovel (75) 


Brewster, BSI, 81 




LASS ROCH ROYAL 


Lord Randal (12) 


Brown Coll. 




LASS ROCH ROYAL 


Numerous songs 


Belden, MFS, 55, 480 






(For a list see 


Cambiaire, ETWFMB, 






the discussion 


7* 






under Child 76 


Cox, FSS, 413 






in this study.) 


Davis, TBF, 260 








Henry, FSSH, 67 


Lady Alice (85) 


LASS ROCH ROYAL 




Chappell, FSRA, 128 


Twa Sisters (10) 


LASS ROCH ROYAL 




Haun, CCJBS, 109 




LITTLE MUSGRAVE 


Lady Maisry (65) 


Barry, BBM, 448 



(Si) 
Lord Thomas (73) LITTLE MUSGRAVE 



Fuson, BKH, 55 
MacKenzie, BSSNS,?,? 



Edward (13) 



LIZIEWAN(5i) 



SharpK, EFSSA, 1, 89 



Lass Roch Royal 

(76) 



LORD LOVEL (75) 



Brewster, BSI, 81 



i68 



British Traditional Ballad in North America 



Material 


Abbreviated Child 


Material enters 


Reference 


comes from 


title and number 






Lass Roch Royal 


LORD RANDAL (12) 




Brown Coll. 




LORD THOMAS (73) 


Fair Margaret (74) 


Brewster, S2, 76 




LORD THOMAS 


Little Musgrave(Si) Fuson, SKH 9 55 








MacKenzie, BSSNS,2? 


Maid F. Gallows 


LORD THOMAS 




Morris, FSF, 408 


(95) 








Sir Hugh (155) 


LORD THOMAS 




Morris, FSF, 416 




LORD THOMAS 


Young Hunting 


Belden, MFS, 35 






(68) 




Fair Margaret-A 


LORD THOMAS 




Henry, BMFS, 16 


(74) 








Fair Margaret-B 


LORD THOMAS 




Haufrecht, WS, 10 




MAID & PALMER (21) 


Cruel Mother (20) 


Creighton, SBNS, 3 








MacKenzie, BSSNS,iz 



MAID F. GALLOWS (95) Lord Thomas (73) 
MAID F. GALLOWS Swt. Wm j s Ghost 

(77) 

MAID F. GALLOWS Badman Song 
Badman Songs MAID F. GALLOWS 



Lyric lines MAID F. GALLOWS 



Morris, FSF, 408 
Flanders, VFSB, 240 

Lomax, CSOFB, 159 
Cambiaire, 

ETWVMB, 15 
Fuson, BKH, 113 
Huds on, FSM, 1134 
Morris, FSF, 449 
Wyman, LT, 48 



MARY HAMILTON (173) Peter Amberly 



Barry, BBM, 264 
Eckstrom, MM, 100 



Braes of Yarrow 
(214) 



RARE WILLIE (21 5) 



Barry, BBM, 292 
Eddy, BSO, 69 



Captain Ward (287) SIR A. BARTON (167) 



Barry, BBM, 248 
Cox, FSS, 150 
Smith, SCB, 156 



Frog Went 
a-Courtin' 



SIR LIONEL (i 8) 



Davis, TBV, 127 
SharpK, EFSSA, I, 54 



SIR HUGH (155) 



Lord Thomas (73) Morris, FSF, 416 



SWT. WM'S GHOST (77) Ghostly Lover 
SWT. WM'S GHOST Twa Brothers (49) 



Greenleaf, BSSN, 77 
Davis, T-8F, I47ff. 
SharpK, EFSSA, I, 67 



MaidF. Gallows 

(95) 



SWT. WM'S GHOST 



Flanders, VFSB, 240 



An Index to Borrowing 169 



Material Abbreviated Child Material enters Reference 

comes from title and number 

SWEET TRINITY (286) Louisiana Lowlands Creighton, SBNS, 278 

Political lines THREE RAVENS (26) Haun, CC2S, 102 

Untitled Song THREE RAVENS Davis, T57, 141 

Young Hunting(68) TROOPER & MAID (299) Brewster, BSI, 168 

TWA BROTHERS (49) Unquiet Grave (78) Greenleaf, BSSN, 64 

SharpK, 

EFSSA, I, 66ff. 

Edward (13) TWA BROTHERS Vermont HSP, 102 

Swt. Wm's Ghost TWA BROTHERS Davis, TB7, itftt. 
(77) SharpK, EFSSA,I,6 7 

TWA SISTERS (10) Lass Roch Royal Haun, CCBS, 109 

W 

Twa Brothers (49) UNQUIET GRAVE (78) Greenleaf, BSSN, 64 

SharpK, 
FSSA, I, 66ft 

WIFE USHER'S WELL Cruel Mother (20) SharpK, EFSSA, I, 56 

(79) 

Miscellaneous lines WIFE WETHER J S SKIN Cox, FSS, 161 



WILLIE W. (100) Johnie Scot (99) Barry, BBM^ 217 

YOUNG HUNTING (68) "Forsaken Girl" Henry, FSSH, 145 
Series JAFL, XLIV, 57 

Lunsford,.F,SSM,22 



YOUNG HUNTING Lady Isabel (4) JAFL,XLlX,2i4. 
YOUNG HUNTING Trooper & Maid Brewster, BSI, 168 



Lord Thomas (73) YOUNG HUNTING Belden, MFS, 35 

Lady Isabel (4) YOUNG HUNTING Belden, MFS, 35 

Davis, T5F, 183 
SharpK, EFSSA, I, 
102 



GENERAL BIBLIOGRAPHY 



A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY OF PUBLICATIONS 
USED IN THE PREPARATION OF THIS STUDY 

A deck-List of Recorded Songs in the English Language in the Archive of American Song to 
January 1943. Library of Congress, Washington, D.C., 19423. 

Adler, Kurt. Songs of Many Wars, N.Y., 1943. 

Allen, Jules V. Cowboy Lore, San Antonio, 1933. 

Anderson, Geneva. A Collection of Ballads and Songs from East Tennessee, Master's Thesis, 
University of North Carolina, 1932. 

Anderson, Robert, Works of the British Poets, 14 vols., Edinburgh, 1795. 

Barbeau, Marius. Folk Songs of French Canada, New Haven, 1925. 

Barbour, Frances M. Six Ballads of the Ozark Mountains, Radcliffe College, 1929. 

Baring-Gould, S. and Sheppard, H. Fleetwood. (Sharp, C. : musical ed.). Songs of the West, 

London, 1905. 

Barnes, Ruth. 1 Hear America Singing, Philadelphia, 1937. 
Barry, Phillips. Ancient British Ballads, a privately printed list, 
Barry, Phillips (with Eckstrom, Fannie H. and Smyth, Mary W.). British Ballads from 

Maine, New Haven, 1929. 

Barry, Phillips. Maine Woods Songster, Cambridge, Mass., 1939. 
Beck, Earl C. Lore of the Lumberjack, Ann Arbor, 1948. 
Beck, Earl C. Songs of the Michigan Lumberjacks, Ann Arbor, 1941. 
Beckwith, Martha. Folklore in America, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., 1931. 
Belden, H. M. A Partial List of Song Ballads and Other Poetry Known in Missouri (Second 

Edition), 1910. 

Belden, H. M. Missouri Folk Songs (University of Missouri Studies, Vol. XV), 1940. 
Blades, W. C. Negro Poems, Melodies, etc., Boston, 1921. 
Boatright, Mody C. Backwoods to Border, Dallas, 1943. 
Botkin, Benjamin. American Play Party Song, Lincoln, 1937. 
Botkin, Benjamin. Treasury of American Folklore, New York, 1944. 
Botkin, Benjamin. Treasury of New England Folklore, New York, 1947. 
Botsford, Florence. Songs of the Americas, New York, n. d. 
Bowles, Paul F. American Folk Songs, New York, 1940. 
Broadwood, Lucy. English Traditional Songs and Carols, London, 1908. 
Brews ter, Paul G. Ballads and Songs of Indiana, Bloomington, Ind., 1940. 
Brown, F. C. A Collection of North Carolina Folklore to be published soon. 
Bums, Robert. Complete Poems (Cambridge Edition), Cambridge, Mass., 1897. 

Cambiaire, Celeste P. East Tennessee and Western Virginia Mountain Ballads, London, 1935. 

Carmer, Carl L. America Sings, New York, 1942. 

Chadwick, H. M. and N. K. The Growth of Literature, Cambridge, Eng., 1932. 

Chambers, Robert. The Songs in Scotland Prior to Burns, Edinburgh, 1890. 

Chappell, Louis W. Folk Songs of the Roanoke and Alhemarle, Morgantown, W. Va., 1939. 

Chappie, J. M. (ed.) Heart Songs, Boston, 1909. 

Chase, Richard. Old Songs and Singing Games, Chapel Hill, N. C, 1938. 

Chase, Richard. Traditional Ballads, Songs, and Games, Chapel Hill, N.C., 1935. 

173 



174 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

Child, Francis J. "Ballad Poetry" in Johnson's Universal Cyclopaedia, Vol. I., 1893. 
Child, Francis J. English and Scottish Popular Ballads (edited by Kittredge, G. L. and 

Sargent, H. C.), Cambridge Edition, Cambridge, Mass., 1904. 

Child, Francis J. The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, 5 Vols., Boston, 188298. 
Coffin, Robert P. T. Lost Paradise, New York, 1934. 
Colcord, Joanna. Roll and Go, Indianapolis, 1924. 
Colcord, Joanna. Songs of American Sailormen, New York, 1938. 
Coleman, Satis and Bregman, Adolph. Songs of American Folk, New York, 1942. 
Combs, Josiah. Folk Songs du Midi Etats-Unis, Paris, 1926. 
Combs, Josiak Folk Songs of the Kentucky Highlands, New York, 1939. 
Cox, John H. Folk Songs of the South, Cambridge, Mass., 1925. 
Cox, John H. Traditional Ballads Mainly from West Virginia, New York, 1939. 
Crabtree, Lillian G. Songs and Ballads Sung in Overton County, Master's Thesis, George Pea- 

body College, Nashville, 1936. 

Creighton, Helen. Songs and Ballads from Nova Scotia, Toronto, 1933. 
Cunningham, Allan. The Songs of Scotland, 4 Vols., London, 1825. 
Cutting, Edith. Lore of an Adirondack County (Cornell Studies in American History, Literature, 

and Folklore, I), Ithaca, N.Y. 

Davis, Arthur K. Folk Songs of Virginia, Durham, 1949. 
Davis, Arthur K. Traditional Ballads of Virginia, Cambridge, Mass., 1929. 
Dean, M. C. The Flying Cloud, etc., Quickpoint, Virginia, Minn., 1922. 
Deutsch, Leonhard. Treasury of the World? s Finest Folk Songs, New York, 1942. 
Dobie, J. Frank (ed.). Publications of the Texas Folklore Society, Austin, 191 iff. 
Dolph, Edward A. Sound Off, New York, 1942. 

Downes, Olin and Siegmeister, Elie. Treasury of American Song, New York, 1940. 
Duncan, Ruby. Ballads and Folk Songs in North Hamilton County, Master's Thesis, University 

of Tennessee, 1939. 

Eckstrom, Fannie H. and Smyth, Mary W. Minstrelsy of Maine, Boston, 1927. 
Eddy, Mary O. Ballads and Songs from Ohio, New York, 1939. 
Emerich, Duncan. Casey Jones and Other Ballads of the Mining West, Denver, 1942. 
Ent-wistle, William J. European Balladry, Oxford, 1939. 

Farwell, Arthur. Folk Songs of the West and South, Newton Center, Mass., 1905. 

Fauset, Arthur H. Folklore from Nova Scotia, MAFLS, XXIV, New York, 1931. 

Flanders, Helen H., etc. Country Songs of Vermont, New York, 1937. 

Flanders, Helen H. Garland of Green Mountain Song, Boston, 1934. 

Flanders, Helen H.; Ballard, Elizabeth F., Brown, George; and Barry, Phillips. New Green 

Mountain Songster, New Haven, 1939. 
Flanders, Helen H. & Brown, George. Vermont Folk Songs and Ballads, Brattleboro, Vt., 



Finger, Charles J. Frontier Ballads, New York, 1927. 

Folk Song Bibliography of the New Tork Public Library, New York, 1907. 

Ford, Ira. Traditional Music of America. New York, 1940. 

Ford, Worthington C. Broadsides, Ballads, etc. in Massachusetts, 16391800, (Massachusetts 

Historical Society Collection, Vol. LXXV), Boston, 1922. 
Fuson, Harvey H. Ballads of the Kentucky Highlands, London, 1931. 

Gable, J. Harris. A Bibliography of Robin Hood, Lincoln, 1939. 
Gardner, Emelyn E. Folklore from the Schoharie Hills, Ann Arbor, 1937, 



General Bibliography 175 

Gardner, Emelyn E. and Chickering, Geraldine J. Ballads and Songs oj Southern Michigan, 

Ann Arbor, 1939. 
Garrison, Theodore. Forty-five Searcy County Songs, Master's Thesis, University of Arkansas, 

1939. 

Gerould, Gordon. The Ballad of Tradition, Oxford, 1932. 
Gilbert, Douglas. Lost Chords, Garden City, 194.2. 
Goethe, Johann W. Sdmtliche Werke, Stuttgart, 18545. 
Gomme, Alice. Traditional Games (Vols. I and II in Dictionary of British Folk Lore, Part I), 

London, 1894. 

Gordon, Robert W. Folk Songs of America, National Service Bureau Publication, 1938. 
Gray, Roland P. Songs and Ballads of the Maine Lumberjacks, Cambridge, Mass., 1924. 
Green, Charles P. Ballads of the Black Hills, Hot Springs, Va., 1930. 
Green Mountain Songster (in possession of Harold Rugg, a librarian at the Dartmouth College 

Library), Sandgate, Vt., 1823. 
Greenleaf, Elisabeth B. and Mansfield, Grace Y. Ballads and Sea Songs cf Newfoundland, 

Cambridge, Mass., 1924. 

Greig, Gavin. Last Leaves of Traditional Ballads (ed. A. Keith), Aberdeen, 1925. 
Gummere, Francis J. Ballads (in CHEL, Chapert 17), Cambridge, Mass., 1908. 
Gummere, Francis J. Old English Ballads, New York, 1894. 
Gummere, Francis J. The Popular Ballad, New York, 1902. 

Halliwell, James O. Nursery Rhymes of England, London, 1874. 

Halliwell, James O. Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales, London, 1849. 

Hannum, Alberta P. Thursday April, New York, 1931. 

Hart, Walter M. Ballad and Epic, Boston, 1907. 

Hart, Walter M. English Popular Ballad, New York, 1916. 

Haufrecht, Herbert (ed.) The Wayfarin 9 Stranger, New York, 1945. 

Haun, Mildred. Cocke County Ballads and Songs, Master's Thesis, Vanderbilt University, 



Hendren, Joseph W. A Study of Ballad Rhythm, Princeton, N. J., 1936. 

Henry, Mellinger. A Bibliography of American Folk Songs, London, 1937. 

Henry, Mellinger. Folk Songs from the Southern Highlands, New York, 1938. 

Henry, Mellinger. Songs Sung in the Southern Appalachians, London, 1934. 

Henry, Mellinger and Matteson, Maurice. Twenty-nine Beech Mountain Folk Songs and 

Ballads, New York, 1936. 

Hudson, Arthur P. Folk Songs of Mississippi and their Background, Chapel Hill, N. C., 1936. 
Hudson, Arthur P.: Herzog, George; Halpert, Herbert. Folk Tunes from Mississippi, New 

York, 1937. 

Hudson, Arthur P. Specimens of Mississippi Folklore, 1928. 

Hummel, Lynn E. Ozark Folk Songs, Master's Thesis, University of Missouri, 1936. 
Hustvedt, Sigurd B. Ballad Books and Ballad Men, Cambridge, Mass., 1930. 

Jackson, George P. Down-East Spirituals, New York, 1939. 

Jackson, George P. Spiritual Folk Songs of Early America, New York, 1937. 

Jackson, George P, White and Negro Spirituals, New York, 1943. 

Jackson, George P. White Spirituals in the Southern Uplands, Chapel Hill, N. C, 1934. 

Jeckyll, Walter. Jamaican Song and Story, London, 1907. 

Johnson, Guy B. John Henry, Chapel Hill, N. C, 1929. 

Johnson, Guy B* and Odum, Howard W. Negro Workaday Songs, Chapel Hill, N, C., 1926. 



Ij6 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

Johnson, Guy B. and Odum, Howard W. The Negro and bis Songs, Chapel Hill, N. C., 1925. 
Jones, Bertrand L. Folklore in Michigan (reprinted from the Kalamazoo Normal Record, 

May 1914, Western State Normal School, Kalamazoo, Mich.) 
Jordan, Philip D. Singing Tankees, Minneapolis, 1946. 

Karpeles, Maud. Folk Songs from Newfoundland, Oxford, 1934. 

Kennedy, Tolbert H. Cultural Effects of Isolation on a Homogeneous Rural Area, Doctoral 

Dissertation, George Peabody College, Nashville, 1942. 
(Kentucky Counties Songs). Songs Collected by Workers of the Federal Music Project (WPA) 

in Boyd, Floyd, and Rowan Counties, Ky. Mss. New York Public Library, 1938. 
Ker, William P. Epic and Romance, London, 1908. 

Ker, William P. On the History of Ballads in Vol. IV of Proceedings of the British Academy. 
Kincaid, Bradley. Favorite Mountain Ballads and Old Time Songs, Chicago, 1928. 
Kolb, John and Kolb, Sylvia. A Treasury of Folk Song (a Bantam Book), New York, 1948. 
Korson, George P. Pennsylvania Songs and Legends, Philadelphia, 1949* 

Lane, Rose. Cindy, New York, 1928. 

Lane, Rose. Hill Billy, New York, 1926. 

Larkin, Margaret. Singing Cowboy, New York, 1931. 

Lawrence, Dorothy D. Folklore Music Map of the United States, New York, 1946. 

Leach, MacEdward and Beck, Horace. Mss. copies of folk songs and ballads collected in 

Virginia. To be published in JAFL. 
Lengyel, Cornel. A San Francisco Songster (History of Music in San Francisco Series, II), 



Linscott, Eloise H. Folk Songs of Old New England, New York, 1939. 

Loesser, Arthur. Humor in American Song, New York, 1942. 

Logan, W. H. A Pedlar's Pack of Ballads and Songs, Edinburgh, 1869. 

Lomax, Alan and Colwell, S. A. American Folk Song and Folklore (A Regional Bibliography), 

New York, 1942. 

Lomax, John and Lomax, Alan. American Ballads and Folk Songs, New York, 1941. 
Lomax, John. Adventures of a Ballad Hunter, New York, 1947. 
Lomax, John. Cowboy Songs, New York, 1910. 

Lomax, John and Lomax, Alan. Cowboy Songs and Other Frontier Ballads, New York, 1938. 
Lomax, John. Folk Song U.S.A., New York, 1947* 

Lomax, John and Lomax, Alan. Negro Folk Songs by Leadbelly, New York, 1936. 
Lomax, John and Lomax, Alan. Our Singing Country, New York, 1941. 
Lomax, John. Songs of the Cattle Trail and Cow Camp, New York, 1919. 
Lunsford, Bascom and Stringfield, Lamar. Thirty and One Folk Songs from the Southern 

Mountains, New York, 1929. 
Luther, Frank. Americans and Their Songs, New York, 1942. 

MacCaskey, J. P. Franklin Square Song Collection, New York, 1887. 

Macintosh, David S. Some Representative Southern Illinois Folk Songs, Iowa City, 1935. 

MacKenzie, W. Roy. Ballads and Sea-Songs from Nova Scotia, Cambridge, Mass,, 1928. 

MacKenzie, W. Roy. Quest of the Ballad, Princeton, N.J., 1919. 

Mason, Robert. Folk Songs and Folk Tales of Cannon County, Master's Thesis, George Pea- 

body College, Nashville, 1939. 

Mattfeld, Julius. Folk Music of the Western Hemisphere, New York Public Library, 
McCarthy, Helen. Return of the Dead, Master's Thesis. Brown University, 1937. 



General Bibliography ijj 

McDonald, Grant. A Study of Selected Folk Songs of Missouri, Master's Thesis, University 

of Iowa, 1939. 

Me Gill, Josephine. Folk Songs of the Kentucky Mountains, New York, 1917. 
Miller, George M. The Dramatic Element in the Popular Ballad, Cincinnati, 1905. 
Minish, Maude. Mss. notebooks in the Harvard University Library. 
Morris, Alton C. Folk Songs of Florida and Their Cultural Background, Doctoral Dissertation, 

University of North Carolina, 1941. 
Musick, Ruth. Folklore In and Near Kirksville, Missouri, Ms. to be published. 

Neal, Mabel. Brown County Songs and Ballads, Master's Thesis, University of Indiana, 1926. 

Neely, Charles and Spargo, J. W. Tales and Songs of Southern Illinois, Menosha, Wise., 1938. 

Neeser, Robert W. American Naval Songs and Ballads, New Haven, 1938. 

Newell, William W. Games and Songs of American Children, New York, 1883. 

Niles, John J. Anglo-American Ballad Study Book, New York, 1945. 

Niles, John J. Ballads, Carols, and Tragic Legends, New York, 1938. 

Niles, John J. Ballads, Love Songs, and Tragic Legends, New York, 1937. 

Niles, John J. More Songs of the Hill Folk, New York, 1936. 

Niles, John J. Seven Kentucky Mountain Tunes, New York, 1928. 

Niles, John J. Songs of the Hill Folk, New York, 1934. 

Northcote, Sydney. The Ballad in Music, New York, 1941. 

Notes jrom the Pine Mountain Settlement School, Harlan County, Ky., 1935. 

Owen, Mary. Voodoo Tales, New York, 1893. 
Owens, William A. Southwest Sings, Austin, 1941. 

Owens, William A. Studies in Texas Folk Song, Doctoral Dissertation, University of Iowa, 
1941. 

Parsons, Elsie C. Folklore of the Antilles, MAFLA, XXVI, New York, 1933. 
Parsons, Elsie C. Folklore of the Cape Verde Islands, MAFLS, XV (2 vols.), New York, 1923. 
Parsons, Elsie C. Folklore of the Sea Islands, MAFLS, XVI, New York, 1923. 
Parsons, Elsie C. Folk Tales of the Andros Islands, MAFLS, XIII, New York, 1918. 
Perry, Henry W. A Sampling of the Folklore of Carter County, Master's Thesis, George Pea- 
body College, Nashville, 1938. 

Pound, Louise. American Ballads and Songs, New York, 1922. 
Pound, Louise. Folk Song of Nebraska and the Central West. A Syllabus. 
Pound, Louise. Poetic Origins and the Ballad, New York, 1921. 
Powell, John. Five Virginia Folk Songs, New York, n. d. 

Raine, James W. Land of the Saddle Bags, Texarkana, 1924. 

Ramsay, Allan. Tea-Table Miscellany, London, 1733. 

Randolph, Vance. Ozark Folk Songs, Vol. I, Columbia Mo., 1946. 

Randolph, Vance. Ozark Mountain Folk, New York, 1932. 

Randolph, Vance. The Ozarks, New York, 1931. 

Rayburn, O. E. Ozark Country, New York, 1941. 

Rickaby, Franz. Ballads and Songs of the Shanty-Boy, Cambridge, Mass., 1926. 

Richardson, Ethel P. American Mountain Songs, New York, 1927. 

Richmond, W. Edson. Place Names in the English and Scottish Popular Ballads and Their 

American Variants, Doctoral Dissertation, Ohio State University, 1947. 
Ring, Constance V. Mid-Hudson Song and Verse. An unpublished manuscript. 



178 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

Ring, Lyle R. New England Folk Songs, Boston, 1934. 
Roberts, Elizabeth M. The Great Meadow, New York, 1930. 

Sandburg, Carl. Tie American Songbag, New York, 1927. 

Sears, Minnie E. and Crawford, Phyllis. Song Index, New York, 1926. 

Scarborough, Dorothy. On the Trail of Negro Folk Songs, Cambridge, Mass., 1925. 

Scarborough, Dorothy. Songcatcher in the Southern Mountains, New York, 1937. 

Scott, Thomas J. Sing of America, New York, 194.7. 

Scott, Sir Walter. Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, New York, 1902. 

Sharp, Cecil. English Folk Songs, 2 vols., London, 1921. 

Sharp, Cecil. English Folk Songs: Some Conclusions, London, 1907. 

Sharp, Cecil, zoo English Folk Songs, New York, 1916. 

Sharp, Cecil and Campbell, Olive. English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, New 
York, 1917. 

Sharp, Cecil and Karpeles, Maud. English Folk Songs from the Southern Appalachians, 2 vols., 
Oxford, 1932. 

Shay, Frank. American Sea Songs and Chanties, New York, 1948. 

Shay, Frank. Deep Sea Chanties, London, 1925. 

Shay, Frank. Drawn from the Wood, New York, 1929. 

Shay, Frank. Iron Men and Wooden Ships, New York, 1925. 

Shay, Frank. More Pious Friends and Drunken Companions, New York, 1928. 

Shay, Frank. My Pious Friends and Drunken Companions, New York, 1927. 

Shearin, Hubert and Combs, Josiah. A Syllabus of Kentucky Folk Song (Transylvania 
Studies in English, Lexington, Ky.), 1911. 

Sheppard, Muriel. Cabins in the Laurel, Chapel Hill, N. C, 1935. 

Sherwin, Sterling. Singin in the Saddle, Boston, 1944. 

Shoemaker, Henry W. North Pennsylvania Minstrelsy, Altoona Pa., 1923. (Mention! s also 
made of the 1919 edition in connection with The Mermaid.} 

Shoemaker, Henry W. Mountain Minstrelsy (a third edition of North Pennsylvania Min- 
strelsy), Philadelphia, Pa., 1931. 

Sidgwick, Frank. The Ballad, London, 1914. 

Siegmeister, Elie. Songs of Early America, New York, 1944. 

Siegmeister, Elie. Work and Sing, New York, 1943. 

Skeat, Walter W. Tale of Gamelyn, Oxford, 1884. 

Spaeth, Sigmund. Read 'em and Weep, New York, 1 927. 

Spaeth, Sigmund. Weep Some More My Lady, New York, 1927. 

Smith, R. A. The Scotish Minstrel, 6 vols., Edinburgh, 18204. 

Smith, Reed. South Carolina Ballads, Cambridge, Mass., 1928, 

Smith, Reed and Rufty, H. An American Anthology of Old World Ballads, New York, 1 937. 

Stegemeir, Henri. The Dance of Death in Folk Song, Chicago, 1939. 

Stewart, George R. The Technique of English Verse, New York, 1930. 

Stout, Earl J. Folklore from Iowa, MAFLS, XXIX, New York, 1936. 

Stringfield, Lamar. America and her Music (University of North Carolina Extension Bulletin, 
X, #7), March 1931. 

Sturgis, Edith B. and Hughes, Robert. Songs from the Hills of Vermont, New York, 1919. 

Summers, Montague. History of Witchcraft and Demonology, New York, 1926, 

Thomas, Jean. Ballad Makin* in the Mountains of Kentucky, New York, 1939. 
Thomas, Jean. Blue Ridge Country, New York, 1942. 



General Bibliography 

Thomas, Jean. DeviFs Ditties, Chicago, 1931. 
Thomas, Jean. Singin 9 Fiddler, New York, 1938. 
Thomas, Jean. The Singin 9 Gathering New York, 1939. 
Thompson, Harold W. Body, Boots, and Britches, New York, 1940. 
Thompson, Stith. Motif Index to Folklore, Bloomington, Ind., 19327. 
The Vagabonds: Old Cabin Songs of 'the Fiddle and Bow, n. p., n. d. 

Wells, Carolyn. A Parody Anthology >, New York, 1904. 

Wetmore, Susannah and Bartholomew, Marshall. Mountain Songs of North Carolina, New 

York, n. d. 

Wheeler, Mary. Kentucky Mountain Folk Songs, Boston, 1937. 
White, Newman I. American Negro Folk Songs, Cambridge, Mass., 1928. 
Whittier, John G. Tankee Gypsies in Prose Works, Boston, 1889. 
Williams, Alfred. Folk Songs of the Upper Thames, London, 1923. 
Williams, Alfred M. Studies in Folk Song and Popular Poetry, New York, 1894. 
Wilson, H. R. Songs of the Hills and Plains, Chicago, 1943. 
Wilson, Charles M. Backwoods America, Chapel Hill, N. C., 1934. 
Wimberly, Lowry C. Death and Burial Lore in the English and Scottish Popular Ballads, 

Lincoln, 1927. 

Wimberly, Lowry C. Folklore in the English and Scottish Ballads, Chicago, 1928. 
Wimberly, Lowry C. Minstrelsy, Music, and the Dance in the English and Scottish Popular 

Ballads, Lincoln, 1921. 
Wyman, Loraine and Brockway, Howard. Lonesome Tunes, Folk Songs from the Kentucky 

Mountains, New York, 1916. 
Wyman, Loraine and Brockway, Howard. Twenty Kentucky Mountain Songs, Boston, 1920. 

Zielonko, Jane. Some American Variants of Child Ballads, Master's Thesis, Columbia Uni- 
versity, 1945. 

PERIODICALS 

(For references to specific articles consulted see the individual bibliographies and discussions 

under the various ballads.)^ 
Adventure, New York. 
Advertiser, Aurora, Mo. 
American Speech, Baltimore. 
Altoona Tribune, Altoona, Pa. 
Arizona Quarterly, Tuscoru 
Arkansas Historical Quarterly, Fayetteville, Ark. 
An World, New York. 

Ballad Society Publications, London. 

Ballads Surviving in the United States, a Ballad Circular, Department of Public Instruction 

of Virginia, 1916. 
Bangor Daily News, Bangor, Me. 
Berea Quarterly, Berea, Ky. 
Blackwoofs Magazine, Edinburgh. 
Boletin Latino-Americano de Musica, Montevideo. 
Bookworm, London. 
Boston Evening Transcript, Boston. 

13* 



180 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

Boston Sunday Globe, Boston. 

Bulletin of the Folk Song Society of the Northeast, Cambridge, Mass. (BFSSNEJ. 

Bulletin of the Tennessee Folklore Society, Marysville, Term. 

Bulletin of the University of South Carolina, Columbia, S. C. 

California Arts and Architecture, San Francisco. 

California Folklore Quarterly (now Western Folklore Quarterly}, Berkeley, Calif. (CFLO). 

Caravan, Washington, D. C. 

Charlotte Observer, Charlotte, N. C. 

Dalbousie Review, Halifax, N. Sc. 
Detroit News, Detroit. 
Direction, Darien, Conn. 

German Quarterly, Lancaster, Pa. 
Greensboro Daily News, Greensboro, N. C. 

English Journal, Chicago. 
Etude, Philadelphia. 
Explicator, Fredricksburg, Va. 

Farm Life, Spencer, Ind. 

Focus, Farmville, Va. 

Folk-Lore, London. 

Folklore Fellows Communications, Helsingfors. (FFC). 

Folk-Lore Journal, London. 

Folk Say, Norman, Oklahoma. 

Golden Book, New York. 

Grapurcbat, East Radford State Teacher's College, Va. 

Harper's Magazine, New York. 

Hoosier Folklore Quarterly, Bloomington, Ind. (HFLQ). 

Illinois State Historical Society Journal, Springfield, 111. 

Journal of American Folklore, Boston, Lancaster, Pa., and New York. (JAFL). 
Journal of the Folk Song Society, London. (JFSS). 
Journal of the Irish Folk Song Society, Dublin. 

Midwest Quarterly (Nebraska University), New York. 

Missouri Historical Society Bulletin, St. Louis. 

Modern Language Notes, Baltimore. (MLN). 

Modern Language Quarterly, Seattle. (MLQ). 

Modern Language Review, Cambridge, Eng. (MLR). 

Modern Philology, Chicago. 

Musical America, New York. 

Music Educator's Journal, Madison, Wise, and Ann Arbor, Mich, 

Musical Quarterly, New York 

Music Teacher's National Association Papers. 

Narragansett Times, Wakefield, R. I. 
Nation, New York. 



General Bibliography l8l 

Nebraska Academy of Sciences Publications, Lincoln. 

Nebraska Folklore Pamphlets, Lincoln. 

New Jersey Journal of Edwation, New Egypt, N. J. and Newark, N. J. 

New Republic, New York. 

New Tork Folklore Quarterly, Ithaca, N. Y. (NTFLQ). 

New Tork Sunday Times, Magazine Section, New York. 

New Tork Tribune, New York. 

North American Review, Boston and New York. 

North Carolina Booklet, Raliegh, N. C. 

Outlook, New York. 

Ozark Life, Kingston, Ark. 

Publications of the Modern Language Association, New York. (PMLA). 

Publications of the Texas Folklore Society. See Dobie, J. Frank (ed.). (PTFLS). 

Sewanee Review, Sewanee, Tenn. 

Singer's Journal, Henry de Marsan, New York. 

Southern Folklore Quarterly, GainsviUe, Fla. (SFLQ). 

Speculum, Cambridge, Mass. 

Springfield Sunday Union and Republican, Springfield, Mass. 

Survey, New York. 

Texas Folklore Society Bulletin, Austin. 
Travel, New York. 

University of Kansas Publications, Humanistic Studies, Lawrence, Kans. 
University of Virginia Magazine, Charlottesville, Va. 

Vermont Historical Society, Proceedings, New Series, Montpelier, Vt. 
Virginia Folklore Society Bulletin, Charlottesville, Va. 

Western Folklore, Berkeley, Calif. (WF). 

West Virginia School Journal and Educator, Morgantown, W. Va. 

West Virginia University Studies, III (Philological Papers, II), Morgantown, W. Va. 

William and Mary Literary Magazine, Williamsburg, Va. 



INDEX TO BALLADS DISCUSSED 



INDEX TO BALLADS DISCUSSED 



Andrew Lammie 
Archie o Cawfield 



Babylon ................................................................... 46 

The Baffled Knight ......................................................... I0 3 

The Bailiffs Daughter of Islington ............................................ 101 

Bessy Bell and Mary Gray ................................................... I2 ^ 

The Bold Pedlar and Robin Hood ............................................ 107 

Bonnie Annie .............................................................. 51 

Bonny Barbara Allen ....................................................... 87 

Bonny Bee Horn ........................................................... 94 

The Bonny Earl of Murray .................................................. 117 

The Bonnie House of Airlie .................................................. 119 

Bonnie James Campbell ..................................................... 128 

The Braes of Yarrow ........................................................ 129 

The Broom of Cowdenknowes ................................................ 132 

The Broomfield Hill ........................................................ 57 

The Brown Girl ............................................................ 159 

Captain Car (Edom o Gordon) ............................................... 117 

Captain Ward and the Rainbow .............................................. 155 

Captain Wedderburn's Courtship .......................................... . . . 59 

The Cherry-Tree Carol ...................................................... 65 

Child Maurice .............................................................. 86 

Child Waters ............................................................... 70 

Clerk Colvill ............................................................... 57 

The Crafty Farmer ......................................................... 151 

The Cruel Brother .......................................................... 42 

The Cruel Mother ... ........................................................ 50 

The Death of Queen Jane ................................................... n5 

Dick o the Cow ...................................................... * ..... ti8 

Dives and Lazarus ................. . ........................................ 67 

Earl Brand ................................................................ 3S 

Edward ................................................................... 45 

The Elfin Knight ........................................................... 30 

Erlinton ................................................................... 37 

Fair Annie ......................... . ...................................... 69 

Fair Margaret and Sweet William ............................................ 76 

'The False Knight upon the Road ........................ .,..** .............. 31 

The False Lover Won Back .................................................. *33 

185 



1 86 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

The Famous Flower of Serving-Men 102 

The Farmer's Curst Wife 148 

The Gardner 133 

The Gay Goshawk 99 

Geordie 126 

The George Aloe and the Sweepstake 152 

Get Up and Bar the Door 145 

Glasgerion * 71 

The Grey Cock (Saw You My Father ?) 141 

Gude Wallace 112 

The Gypsie Laddie 120 

The Heir of Linne 142 

Henry Martyn 141 

Hind Horn 47 

The Hunting of the Cheviot (Chevy Chase) 112 

James Harris (The Daemon Lover) 138 

Jamie Douglas 125 

Jellon Grame , 94 

Jock o the Side 118 

John of Hazelgreen 158 

John Thompson and the Turk 142 

Johnie Cock 104 

Johnie Scot 99 

The Jolly Beggar 150 

Katherine Jaffray 133 

King Edward the Fourth and a Tanner of Tamworth 144 

King Henry the Fifth's Conquest of France t 113 

King James and Brown 117 

King John and the Bishop 58- 

King Orfeo 50 

The Kitchie-Boy 142 

The Knight and the Shephard's Daughter 102 

The Kreach i the Creel 150 

Lady Alice 90 

Lady Isabel and the Elf-Knight 32 

Lady Maisry , 70 

The Laily Worm and the Machrel of the Sea 55 

The Laird o Drum , 137 

LamHn , ..,..., 94 

The Lass of Roch Royal , 70^ 

Little Musgrave and Lady Barnard 84 

Lizie Lindsay . . , 135 

Lizie Wan , . . . 63, 



Index to Ballads Discussed 187 

Lord Dcrwentwater ......................................................... I2 r 

Lord Ingram and Chiel Wyet ................................................ 71 

Lord Lovel ................................................................ 78 

Lord Randal .............................. . ................................ 43, 

Lord Thomas and Fair Annet ................................................ 74 



The Maid Freed from the Gallows ............................................ q6 

The Marriage of Sir Gawain ................................................. 54 

Mary Hamilton ...... , ..................................................... 1 1 6 

The Mermaid .................. . ........................................... 157 

Northumberland Betrayed by Douglas ........................................ 117 

Our Goodman .............................................................. 144 

Prince Robert ................ , ............................................. 93 

Proud Lady Margaret ....................................................... 60 

Queen Eleanor's Confession .................................................. 112 

The Queen of Elian's Nouricc ................................................ 56 

The Rantin Laddie ......................................................... 137 

Rare Willie Drowned in Yarrow (The Water o Gamrie) .......................... 131 

Riddles Wisely Expounded . , .................................... , ........... 29 

Rob Roy .................................................................. 134 

Robin Hood and the Bishop ................................................. no 

Robin Hood and Guy of Gisborne ............................................ 104 

Robin Hood and Little John ................................................. 106 

Robin Hood and the Prince of Aragon ........................................ 107 

Robin Hood and the Shepherd ............................................... 108 

Robin Hood and the Tanner ................................................. 106 

Robin Hood Rescuing Three Squires .......................................... 109 

Robin Hood Rescuing Will Stutly ............................................ 109 

Robin Hood's Death ........................................................ 105 

Robin Hood's Progress to Nottingham ........................................ 108 

The Rose of England ....................................................... 113 

Saint Stephen and Herod . .................................................. 5 

Sir Andrew Barton ........................................................ - * 13 

Sir Hugh (The Jew's Daughter) .............................................. no 

Sir James the Rose ......................................................... 128 

Sir Lionel ................................................................. 4& 

Sir Patrick Spens ........................................................... 68 

The Suffolk Miracle ......................................................... 1 43 

The Sweet Trinity (The Golden Vanity) ....................................... 153 

Sweet William's Ghost ...................................................... 81 



1 88 British Traditional Ballad in North America 

Tarn Lin 56 

Thomas Rymer , 55 

The Three Ravens (The Twa Corbies) 53 

The Trooper and the Maid 161 

The Twa Brothers 60 

The Twa Sisters 38 

The Twa Magicians 58 

The Unquiet Grave 82 

The Wee Wee Man 55 

The Whummil Bore 54 

The Wife of Usher's Well 83 

The Wife Wrapt in Wether's Skin 146 

Willie Macintosh 1 18 

Willie o Douglas Dale , 101 

Willie o Winsbury 100 

Willie's Lyke-Wake 52 

Young Beichan 63 

Young Benjie 92 

Young Hunting 71 

Young Johnstone 93